Wanderer
by Chibi-Reaper
Summary: The thrilling tale of travels and travails of the dynamic duo of Ranma and Rei! Alliteration, yay! Current arc: Kingdom Hearts
1. Chapter 1

I keep starting new stuff. I really need to stop that sooner or later, it's just going to make it harder to finish everything else... but what the hell.

Anyway, this idea came out of my head after reading 'Just won't die'(still haven't finished all of it), some fic I can't remember the name of, but found on a site where the last update was months ago, and it wasn't one of the updates, and a few more. Now, I'd read all of these all at once, so the original idea for making an amalgam of them came up at roughly five-something in the morning, after having been up all day and all night prior. Fortunately I passed out before posting it because, frankly, the first script sucked ass. Fifty Kilos of nonstop typing after forty hours plus of insomnia equals Fifty kilos of pure, unadulterated, horsecrap. Every other word was misspelled, grammar flew out the window, Shinji hooked up with Asuka and was devoured by mutant fluffy white bunny rabbits... just take my word for it, it sucked, and I've already deleted it.

So, after a long brainstorming session with myself, most of the time being spent by various sections of my brain pointing fingers at one another and yelling about who's idiot idea this was in the first place, I've finally managed to churn out a somewhat decent prologue.

Enjoy. Or not, as the case may be.

xxx

Wanderer

or

(Lost boy ain't got nothing on this.)

xxx

Ukyou wasn't sure why she was browsing through the odd little shop, actually. Perhaps, despite experience, it was curiousity. You see, she had walked this road every day, twice, to school and back. Yesterday there had been an empty lot here, now, the lot had been filled with a shop promoting 'rare artifacts' and 'souveniers'.

Most people realizing that, unless the storeowner practiced some sort of construction related martial art, in which case it would be safest to avoid the shop anyway, there was no way the little store could be erected in one night. Some of those more experienced in such matters would swiftly realize that magic would be heavily involved.

Unfortunately, the most direct experience with magic and the supernatural Ukyou had had was the time she'd taken Ranma and Akane to the 'Tunnel of Lost Love.' That, coupled with the curses that most of her friends seemed to have proved to her beyond a shadow of a doubt that magic did exist, and was a force to be reckoned with when encountered. The problem was, that she didn't know enough about it yet to know how dangerous it was, and how wary one should be when using magical items.

That was why she was salivating over the summary to one of the scrolls she had found.

"Upon use of the spell contained in this scroll, the targeted individual will be bound to the other half of their soul, body and soul united for all eternity. Soulmates... just like me and Ranma-Honey! Body and soul..."

From Ukyou's perspective, the smoky interior of the shop faded away to a church, her rivals in love bound and gagged by invisible magic threads, as the minister calmly pronounced them man and...

"Shopkeeper! How much for this scroll?"

"Ten thousand yen. But..."

"SOLD!"

Sadly, Ukyou paid and left at such speed that the wizened old man at the counter didn't have the opportunity to warn her to be sure to read the instructions _in their entirety_ before beginning any incantations. Instead he sighed and pulled out a small slip of paper, marking a note.

"Hmm... fifth customer already? ... Such a pity for that poor girly. But there are rules and regulations I must follow. On to our next stop, then."

The old man reached down to his side and pulled a small lever.

"Lets see, now. Oh yes, theres a lovely lot in Great Britain, somewhere around Fifteen Seventy..."

The old mans voice faded with his shop, and soon there was once again an empty lot, with an old sack or two of someones garbage tossed in a corner and a few strays picking through them for edibles.

xxx

"Lets see... light five red candles around the pentagram. Check. Place personal item of target in stone bowl at center of pentagram."

Ukyou winced as she dropped a memento of her childhood, a small, braided, lock of Ran-chan's hair that he'd cut off and given her before leaving, into a stone bowl. The bowl was marble, an antique and expensive, but the only bowl made of stone she'd found in the entire district.

"Check. Fill bowl with a mixture of red wine and goats blood."

The wine was easy enough, but she hadn't enjoyed explaining to the butcher just _why_ she'd needed fresh goat blood. He obviously hadn't bought any of her feeble excuses, but had eventually sold it to her anyway.

"Check. Sacrifice at least three drops of your own blood into the mixture and light it."

She looked away as she drew the sharpened edge of one of her mini-spatulas over the back of her hand, wincing as she sliced slightly deeper than she'd intended to and a thin trickle of blood flowed down her hand and into the bowl, forcing some of the mixture over the edges to splatter on the floor. She wrapped a nearby napkin around her bleeding hand and struck a match, lighting the alcohol of the mixture before shaking it out and flicking the spent match into the dustbin.

"Check. Begin and finish the incantation within five minutes of midnight."

Ukyou turned to the clock, counting down the seconds until the appointed time.

Five.

Four.

Three.

xxx

In his sleep, Ranma slowly began to stir, as his danger sense began a low hum.

Two.

One.

His danger sense suddenly flared, and his eyes snapped open to probe the darkness.

Too late.

He suddenly found himself unable to move, to turn his head, or even to move his eyes. All any watchers would see would be Ranma bolt out of sleep, stiffen and begin to slowly float in the air. After a minute or two, small green sparks began floating around the immobile floating boy. Another minute and they had attached themselves to his skin, and his entire body began glowing green. Three minutes later, the glow faded, and a set of worn pajamas slumped to the floor.

Of course, it was the middle of the night, so there were no viewers to the odd phenomena, all sensible people long since to bed. The entire incident would go unnoticed until everyone realized, days later, that Ranma was gone and Nabiki began playing back her security videos to show just when he left.

xxx

Ukyou slumped down to a sitting position, unpredictably exhausted by the ordeal. The words had seemed unpronouncable at first, but after she'd made out the first one the words began pouring out of her mouth, almost as if the scroll was using her to read it rather than she was reading the scroll.

Dazedly, she unrolled the scroll to read it a little further, hoping there were no more steps that needed to be performed immediately.

"Congradulations are in order," she read, smiling slightly before passing out, too tired to differentiate between a comma and a period, not realizing that there was more to be read and her little voodoo trick had done nothing like what she had intended it too.

She dreamed of a wedding, and a new restaurant next to a house, where she would work while her beloved husband cared for their many children.

xxx

Ranma groaned softly to himself as he tried to sit up. And couldn't. At first he was curious, but as he tried more and more to manipulate his body... open his eyes, move an arm, or a leg, or anything, growing more and more hysterical as nothing worked.

He screamed, breaking it off as he realized that neither his tongue nor lips had moved. There were no words for what he was feeling at the moment. Shock, fear, anger... it all paled. He was a martial artist. If he could not move his body, he was nothing... less than nothing.

Then... could he have done so, his jaw would have dropped as his eyes opened and glanced at the clock, and his body began moving without any direction from him. The closest description of the state he was in was terrified curiosity.

"Where... What's happened to me...? Where am I?"

xxx

Rei glanced around the room as she woke and began preparing herself for the days tasks. For some reason, she got the feeling that there was someone here, but a quick glance around the apartment denied the possibility. Were she anyone else, she would have shrugged, but she simply headed to the restroom to shower before she prepared for school as instructed.

'Where...'

She didn't pause to turn around and glance around the apartment again, as others may have. She had already scanned the apartment for intruders, and had heard noone enter. The logical conclusion opted to stop there rather than take one step further and wonder who was talking, then.

'What's happened to me...? Where am I?'

Rei pondered the odd questions, but felt no need to answer. Nothing was out of the ordinary, save that she was hearing a voice that shouldn't be there, and she was Rei Ayanami, second child and pilot of Nerv's unit 00. Upon a brief internal analysis, she had noted that hearing voices where none should be was not one of the things that she was required to report to Commander Ikari immediately, and opted to continue listening to the odd voice.

xxx

"This... this can't be happening to me... Wait, a mirror! If I could just see in the mirror I might be able to tell..."

xxx

Rei paused and took a moment to glance in the mirror.

xxx

"That... that isn't... That's not me... wait... she's still looking, did she... hear me?"

'Yes.'

At the sound of the voice reverberating through his mind, Ranma freaked.

xxx

In Nerima, Ukyou had missed an entire day of school, as she hadn't woken up until well after noon. Fortunately Konatsu had looked after her when he woke, as she discovered when she woke up in bed rather than on the kitchen floor and read the note he'd left. Apparently a member of a powerful ninja clan had been spotted at a teahouse a few miles away yesterday, so after bandaging her cut and clearing up the mess she'd made last night he'd gone to find her and ask for training in kunoichi arts. Ukyou, upon realizing just _how_ late she was, decided to sleep and hand in a sick note tomorrow. Hey, she really didn't feel that good anyway, stupid side effects, so it wasn't like she was lying. Her wedding could wait another day or two.

Unfortunately, Konatsu had forgotten to lock the door, so when a screaming Akane decided to burst in and interrupt her sleep, she'd had nothing in her way.

"Ukyou, come quick! That pervert's dissappeared again!"

That, however, brought her right out of bed and dressed in seconds, pounding migraine or not.

xxx

"So," Cologne stated. "We're all here, now we can get started on what happened to Son-in-law."

Genma stood up.

"I'd like to say this," 'Before everything breaks out into a catfight and we cant hear ouselves think over the screaming.' "Ranma prides his honor above all, he wouldn't simply run away from his engagements." 'He couldn't. And even if he did, I would know.' "Besides, the coercion spell should be good for another six months, at least."

Instantly weapons were drawn and leveled at the stout man, as he broke out in sweat trying to figure out what had set them off.

"Wh-what'd I do?"

"Well tubby," Cologne cackled "If I judged the pauses in between sentences correctly, then on your last statement you thought what you meant to say, and said what you only meant to think. Happens to everyone eventually, just a pity about your timing. Now I believe you mentioned something about a 'coercion spell'? Do explain."

Genma sweated and tried to laugh slightly, giving evidence to just who taught Ranma how to lie under pressure.

"Coercion spell? What coercion spell? I'm sure I didn't say anything about using a coercion spell to bind the boy so he couldn't run away from me again, and to influence all of his actions in a small way. Not a thing."

Most of the listeners simply sweatdropped at his sheer stupidity, but Cologne raised an eyebrow before turning to Shampoo.

"Fetch me a hickory switch, an extension cord stripped of its insulation, six gallons of water, a small pot of boiling oil, a half-dozen shaved dogs, a six pack of soda, a sack of marbles, and three live trout."

"NO, WAIT! I'LL TALK!"

Cologne turned back to Genma, now panting lightly with fear and glancing at the exits... all guarded and the windows barred...

"Then talk, tubby."

Genma sighed.

"... It was roughly a month before we swam back to Japan. After Jusenkyo, but before arriving in your village. The boy had been becoming somewhat... stubborn... over the last few years, but the curse was apparently the last straw for him. He slipped off in the middle of the night. Fortunately, he had picked up little of fleeing from people yet, and I found him in the nearest village, trying to find a job. Feh. My progeny, actually _working_ to _pay_ for his food. It was disgusting. I knocked him out from behind and, afraid that he would try again, perhaps more successfully, used an item given to me in thanks for aiding a man in dispatching a monster. ...Really! I swear! It had me trapped in a small cave and I couldn't escape if you must know... Anyway, this person... an odd fellow, dressed all in red... gave me what appeared to be a slip of paper. He called it a 'Stat Sheet' and explained its use. While he was... sleeping... I wrote my sons name on top, and the magic of the parchment caused it to fill itself out instantly. Everything about my son appeared on the paper, though some of it was difficult to interpret. I simply... meddled with what was neccessary. He didn't seem to care about his female form too much, merely that he had been cursed at all. I couldn't have him accepting or, kami forbid, being _comfortable_ in such a body! In an effort to stave that off, I used the sheet to raise his 'STR' or strength in male form and lower it in female. Unfortunately, this corresponded to an equal and opposite shift in 'SPD' or speed. Before then, both bodies were actually equal. I knew that eventually some of the other... girls... would catch us up, and if he fell in love with one of them then my plans would be ruined, so I... altered his personality just a bit. Made him rude and condescending to females in general, and lowered his hormone and testosterone ratios to keep him from even looking at girls."

Genma paused as he considered that, and came out with a statement that started Akane silently fuming for reasons that she would deny to everyone, including herself.

"Now that I think about it... that may be why Soun and I haven't been able to get our kids hitched yet. I messed with his mind again after arriving in Nerima, to make him like Akane, but never removed the lack of desire. That kinda makes sense... he liked her, but didn't seem to think about her _that_ way, even in the slightest. Wow. And here I thought he was subconciously resisting the spell when all along it was _my_ fault... boy do I feel dumb."

"Shampoo think too-too stupid Panda-man should get to point."

"Huh... no respect. Children these days... Anyway, if you'll all put your weapons down, I can just put a strong desire to go home in the back of his mind."

Instantly, weapons were sheathed by the girls (the guys were out celebrating Ranma's dissappearance), and expectant looks were cast his way, but interrupted by Nabiki clearing her throat from the door.

"Well, interesting as that story is, did that 'stat sheet' say anything about Ranma's rivals and enemies?"

At Genma's slow nod she continued.

"Any of them know magic?"

Genma paused and hesitantly shook his head no.

"Not last time I checked, no. Unless that Hibiki boy found a magic artifact or something... again..."

"Well, I suggest you all take a look at this then. And just this once... I'll even waive the fee."

Nervous chuckling spread throughout the room, as noone could really tell whether she was joking or not.

"Right... fast forward, this is just a few hours of sleeping here... and play."

For a moment, the screen only showed the sleeping Ranma, but then...

Ukyou's eyes widened, thankfully masked by everyone elses similar reactions, as the tape continued to play. However the thing that bothered her the most was the time that the odd things began. Exactly the same time as when she'd begun the chant.

Cologne's brow creased, and she frowned, as everyone merely gasped at watching Ranma's dissappearance, one girl flushing as she noted the pajamas fall to the ground, meaning that wherever he was, he was naked. Her hand twitched as if to grab a mallet as her mind filled with naughty thoughts.

"This..." Cologne mumbled "Is not good at all."

"Aiyah! What great-grandmother mean...? What happen to Airen?"

Cologne rubbed her head and sighed.

"It's nothing that I've ever seen before... and no one I know has ever claimed to see it either... but I found records of a spell thats effects were described as almost exactly the same to what we just watched. The curse of union."

Unnoticed, Ukyou flinched at the name, thinking of the scroll. She spoke up, anxiously.

"Curse... of union? I don't get it."

"You wouldn't child, because I haven't explained yet. At first it was only a spell, intended to unify people with their soulmates. Unfortunately... Allow me to explain. You may believe that you are born with a full soul. That is the concept easiest to understand. However, it is not entirely true. When you are born, you only have half a soul. Sometimes less. It doesn't matter, the soul is actually rather useless for most things, it's just there. Now, the concept of Soulmates... Your Soulmate is the person who was born with the other part of your soul. Should the two of you meet... I recall the school did a play a while back, a comedy spinoff of Romeo and Juliet. Those of you who have read or watched the real thing will know what I'm talking about when I say 'love at first sight'. Romeo and Juliet were the most famous recorded Soulmates of Europe, even more than some of the other tragedies. Lancelot and Guinevere. Tristan and Iseult. All Soulmates. Upon eye contact, the soulmates will feel and instant and undeniable surge of love and lust in equal portions. They will be driven to be wed as soon as possible... or at least to frequently 'make the monster with two backs.'"

She sighed as the reference shot straight over the younglings heads.

"Think rabbits. All. The. Time. Every available opportunity. Gender, age, and previous preferences... none of them matter once you've gazed into the eyes of your Soulmate. That brings us back to the spell itself. It was developed by a... less than attractive sorceror... who often complained that his bed was cold and lonely at night. He cast the spell upon himself, in an effort to bring him and his Soulmate together. To all appearances it failed, resulting in what we just watched. After decades of intense study, one of his students realized just _why_ the spell had apparently failed. You see, it hadn't. The spell did exactly what it was supposed to do... make its victim one with his or her soulmate. It propelled the soul and concsiousness through the aether... throughout the very fabric of reality some believe... the problem was that no spell, however strong, could do the same with flesh and blood without requiring the sacrifice of the casters own life. At that discovery, the students made every attempt to destroy all records of the spell, but some less scrupulous sorceror had already stolen a copy, and learned, just like they had, how the spell had failed in design. The creator had used it in the hopes of love... this other used it to be rid of his rivals. What better way to dispose of an enemy, after all? Even better than assassinations at the time, for it left behind no corpse to be discovered, and few would admit to hear anothers voice in their minds. Think of Multiple-Personality-Disorder. It isn't quite the same, but similar enough. That's all Son-in-law is now, just a quiet voice in the back of the mind of the man or woman who would have been his soulmate. The tribe will mourn his loss. Shampoo! Gather your things, we leave for the village tomorrow."

"Aiyah... but... but Airen..."

"Forget him child. The only thing he has going for him now is the curse that his mind was altered to hate." She cast a withering glance at the stuttering Genma. "And even that is a theory at best, and unlikely."

"W-wait! Tell us this theory! Ran-chan has the habit of beating the odds."

"Kuonji... don't get your hopes up. Then again, I suppose you can't help but be hopeful, as all your dreams of the future pivoted on him. Very well. The theory is this, when cursed by Jusenkyo, the pools create an alternate body for you... basically what you would have been had you been born a panda, or cat. But to constantly reshape your body to that form and back would require far more magical energies than what the village sorceresses claim are used when a victim is splashed. The only real point of severe usage of magical energy is at the actual cursing at the pools. How does it work then? They've theorized that rather than actual shapeshifting, the curse places whatever body you aren't using into stasis somewhere, and the spark of magic that occurs when the victim is splashed is like a signal for the bodies to switch. How this happens exactly is still undetermined, but if true, then the curse would have to be bound to either the consciousness or the soul, as binding such a thing to a body that is replaced would be impossible, and result in a permament curse. That may also be how the locking ladle of the Musk works... or worked, if the rumors are true and Herb has destroyed the thing, by shifting the binding of the curse from the soul to the body. It's probably the only explanation for how it does that with so little expended magic. But even so, Ranma was... sent away... in his male form. As such, even if the theory proves correct he will only have his female form left, as his male form will have been replaced by his Soulmates. We're still going back to China, Shampoo. Soulmates are typically never too similar, so Ranma's... host, will certainly not be a martial artist. Likely not very physically strong either. If Ranma manages to return, but his Soulmate was female, then you'll be required to kill them on sight, as per the Kiss of Death. If his soulmate was... male..." She ignored Genma's indignant skwak at the implication. "... then you will _still_ never have your Airen, because the male of the two will likely be incapable of defeating you in combat, and fighting Ranma as a female would only reinforce the Kiss of Death. Besides... in those conditions it's likely we would have better luck trying to use Mousse as bait to lure them to China, as it's highly likely that Ranma's Soulmate would be."

"NO!" Genma stood up, fires burning in his eyes. "I refuse to believe that _anyone_ related to me in _any_ way could possibly find themselves such perversions against nature. I FORBID IT! Ranma's Soulmate WILL be female... or he is no longer accepted as a Saotome!"

xxx

Hours later, after everyone had left to consider just what they would do now, Shampoo paused as she thought of something Cologne had said.

"Great-grandmother... what mean when say sometimes have less than half of soul?"

"... You mean what happens when a soul is split between, for instance, three people, rather than two? I believe there's a name for that sort of thing..."

Cologne let off an amused cackle before finishing.

"...Threesome!"

xxx

A.N.

Not nearly as long as the original draft, no... but I can proudly say that this doesn't suck. As you can probably tell by the name, this _begins_ in the world of angels and evangelions... that by no means means that it will stay there forever.

Also, I seem to be having computer trouble, so it may be a while before I update... anything really. It depends on how long until the computer decides to start working for me again. I'm seriously considering having the thing exorsized, just to see what happens. Either that or smash it in a fit of rage after the thirty billionth time it decides to turn itself off... this week.

Ah, but my problems don't really matter. Just enjoy the story and I'll get stuff done when I get it done. That's the best I can do.


	2. Chapter 2

Wanderer

Chapter 1

xxx

Ukyou took another long swig from the bottle of wine she'd used previously, as tears trickled down her face. After coming back from the Nekohanten, she'd locked up the shop before sifting through the dustbin for the scroll.

She'd read it then, in its entirety, the congradulations at the bottom.

"Congradulations are in order, for you have successfully disposed of your chosen victim..."

She knocked back the rest of the bottle in one chug, then stood up, staggering slightly, to head out.

First order of business, get roaring drunk. Then, once she'd drowned her sorrows, she'd come up with a plan.

The mess was her fault... she'd have to be the one to fix it.

xxx

Across the borders of reality, Rei had attended school as usual, none the wiser that there was a voice in the back of her head. Ranma himself had been very subdued, occasionally asking a question that Rei would answer, but spending most of the time thinking to himself.

Now they were back at Rei's apartment, and she was... preparing to take a bath, completely unconcerned with the masculine voice in her head.

"H.. Hey... wait a second."

Rei paused but declined to answer.

"You... you're not going to just take a bath with me in here, are you?"

'Yes. Why?'

"I... you're not angry at me? Irritated? Thinking of me as a pervert who wants a free show? Planning on killing me in horrendously gruesome ways if I ever get out of your head?"

'...No. Should I be?'

"... I don't understand you... But before you... you know... clean yourself... I'd like to try something. That is... have you try something... for me... AAAGH! Why does that sound so perverted when I say it!?"

"...Sorry... I'm a little stressed right now. Anyway, before I ended up... here... I had a curse. At the time I hated it, but earlier today I'd thought of something."

'A curse.'

"... Um... Yeah... It does sound crazy doesn't it. But I swear it's true! Long story short, I was born a guy, but after recieving the curse I would change into a girl when splashed with cold water."

'... I see. Explain.'

"Er... I just did."

'No, Saotome. Your idea. Explain it to me.'

"Oh... OH! Yeah, that... I was thinking that maybe if the curse came with me, then, you know, you... might end up changing shape with water. Just wanted to let you know before you took a bath."

Rei paused and glanced at the tub. She didn't show it, but the idea of being male... disturbed her slightly. She turned and leaned over the sink to check.

She ran her hand under the steaming tap before switching the valves.

'There seems to be no difficulty in contact with hot water. I am now testing the cold...'

Ranma and Rei both suddenly experienced a sensation remarkably similar to being punched in the head and kicked in the stomach... but without the pain. When the two caught their breath, they were staring at the image of a girl that was almost Rei's opposite. Long red hair, that would probably look much shorter if bound into a pigtail, Blue eyes, a healthy skin tone...

"Erk... Y'know if I was a guy right now that would almost have been worth it, but as things are I think I'm going to cry... Hey Rei... you there?"

A short pause, followed by...

"That... was extremely unpleasant."

"Yeah... whoah... dizzy... I'm gonna give you back your body now... let's not do this again anytime soon..."

Ranma lurched over to the tub, dipping a feminine hand into the steaming water and triggering the shift. The sensations it triggered were surprisingly lessened though... As though something objected to the first change, but didn't care so much about changing back.

Rei ignored the muffled groans from the back of their mind as she lowered herself into the steaming bath, wondering how she would explain this to the Commander.

xxx

Somewhere, someone giggled.

"Amusing, yes... or not... such a boring timeline, and everyone dies. So sad... no fun at all... but what if I do... _this_?"

xxx

Ukyou groaned as she staggered out of the pub, weaving here and there as she walked. The perfect condition for what was about to happen.

A figure appeared in the darkness of a nearby alley, giggling as it attached a scroll to a fishing hook and pole, then casting it out to dangle just in front of the wasted chef.

"Eh? Whuzzat..."

The shadowy figure jerked the line, inticing Ukyou to reach out and take hold of the scroll. After a few misses, she finally got a firm grasp on it, and the figure jerked the line again, tearing the hook through the paper, before letting off a giggle and dissappearing into the darkness.

Ukyou glanced at the writing on the scroll.

"Read... Me. OK."

She sat down in the middle of the sidewalk, uncaring of the stares she got from the few people out so late, and worked out the first word.

"Urk... Urkel... Urlken... Urlkenthaime!"

She nodded, happy at her success, before passing out. Had she been sober... and conscious... she would have noted that her mouth was still forming words and sounds, even without her approval, and may even have managed to force herself to stop talking, or to destroy the scroll, given what happened the last time this happened.

That's the importance of timing.

xxx

Picture reality as a cloth... similar to, but different from, thousands of other cloths. Now... take a thread or two from a cloth, and weave it into another one. Overall, neither of the cloths really changed... or did they...

Threads have been moved.

xxx

Rei paused in wrapping the towel around her midsection and glanced around.

An owl hooted, bringing momentary silence to the small creatures of the forest before a mouse let loose its death cry and life returned.

"..."

'... Saotome...'

"What! I didn't do anything, I swear!"

xxx

A.N.

Hohohohoho! Short... but good. Where have they ended up... Wait and see.

I got a review with a good idea in it, involving scraps of Rei's soul being spread throughout all her clones... but personally, I subscribe to the theory that they only have one out at a time because she only has one soul and it interchanges when her current body dies. I could have worked out a way to make the scene work anyway... but I didn't feel like writing in the NGE world. I'll leave their fate up to the readers imagination. Depending on how you feel about the characters, maybe Shinji and Asuka pulled through and saved the world without Rei... or maybe they failed miserably and everyone died.

Still... I may use the scene in a brief omake later...

Also, Rei/Ranma aren't the only ones to be... displaced from where they were supposed to be. Who else was moved... Well, I'll tell one. One of the NWC was transferred... somewhere else. Not saying who... but it isn't Ukyou or Akane. I don't like Akane much... and while I have nothing against Ukyou, I've already killed her off for a plot theme. If you don't recognize where, then smack yourself in the face and flip to the previous chapter. Pay close attention to what the old ghoul says about sending people through time and reality.

... Y'know, if you've read this far, I think I _will_ give you a little hint about where they are now. There's an author... Alice Borchardt... that's all I'm saying, the rest you'll have to wait for! ;P


	3. Pokemon? NOOO!

Wanderer

xxx

Maeniel studied the girl who had appeared so suddenly in his territory in the middle of the night. He wasn't sure exactly why she intrigued him. There were too many things to consider.

First was the way she had appeared... simply coming into existence without so much as a soft puff of displaced air. How had she done that? There was a slight scent of magic about her, but not nearly enought to explain something like that. He had met humans that worked magic, and the scent would hang about them, a declaration to the world of what they were. She did not, so how she had come here was a mystery.

A large part of it could be the girl's clothing... or lack thereof. She was girdled in a single sheet of thick cloth, wrapped around her torso, barely doing an adequate job of covering her. Had she shown the slightest scent of desire, he would likely have already risen from his den and shifted forms so as to _greet_ her properly. Sadly, or fortunately, he could not make up his mind which, the girl emanated about as much desire as the average icicle... that is to say, none whatsoever.

Then there was her coloring. Perhaps she was... Albino was the human word for it, but he had only thusfar met a single wolf pup who had been birthed with the uniquely pale coloration of white fur and pink eyes. Her coloration wasn't quite a duplicate of that, but her pale, nearly snow white skin and red eyes suggested it, despite the even more unique shade of her hair, a pale blue.

Then he felt _HER_ arrival, the Lady, the one who had both gifted and cursed him, and he backed deeper into his den, not wishing to draw attention to himself. To this day, he could not decide whether to love or hate the being that had given him this ability, that left him unsatisfied with the life of a wolf, and yet ill-prepared to live the life of a man. The Lady did not show herself, but there was a sharp flare of power that he could _feel_ in his very bones and suddenly the girl was gone again, and the prescence of the Lady had dissipated. He considered this for several minutes before rising to his haunches and deciding it was of no consequence.

Now then... how to properly torment the old man tonight? Unless he was very foolish, he would not be out after dark. Perhaps he would wait another hour or two, then slip into his hut, sit next to his bed, and howl as loud as he could to wake him from his slumber?

Yes... yes, that would work nicely.

xxx

The nighttime forest faded away to be replaced by a tundra at dusk. Then that faded away to a sweltering hot grassland where a lion's head popped up to stare curiously at them before that faded away as well.

"This is why I hate magic!"

'Saotome. How do we stop this?'

"I don't know! I hate magic! This suuuuccckksss..."

They both blacked out from dizziness and vertigo before the magic spat them out in their final destination.

Ranma woke up in an empty place, surrounded by white mists. She blinked, then sighed.

"Not again... this place sucks."

"Explain, Saotome."

Ranma jumped, unbound red hair whirling wildly as she spun in the air.

"Don't DO that!"

"Do what?"

"Sneak up behind me!"

"I had assumed that you had already noted my presence when you began to speak."

Rei paused to glance around the bleak surroundings. Ranma sighed.

"Right. This place... I don't know what it is exactly. The old ghoul called it a mindscape. The scrolls that I found that mentioned it call it the plane of the soul, or something like that. All I know about it is that for as long as I can remember, whenever I get injured past a certain point I lose consciousness and find myself stuck here until my body heals up enough to let me wake up."

Ranma shrugged and gestured through the trailing mist.

"But there's not much to do here. Not sure why. Both the ghoul and the scrolls say that it should represent someplace where I feel I belong and feel comfortable... but it's always been just this big, empty, misty void."

Rei cocked her head, then seemed to concentrate for a moment. Everything around them blurred, and Ranma's form became misty, as though it was only partially there. Bubbles began floating around her as the air shifted to some form of orange liquid as her hand came up to press against the cool glass interior of the tank. Ranma stared dumbly as the mist faded completely to reveal dozens of other naked Rei's floating in the orange goop, empty eyes staring vacantly around what had to be a laboratory of some sort. Occasionally one of the Rei's eyes would sharpen and focus on something for a moment, but the intent gaze would swiftly disappear as they drifted randomly through the goop.

Then it all blurred and everything faded back into the empty white void and mists. And Ranma was on her knees, shivering lightly, as her complexion had turned something between pale and greenish.

"You were correct. With effort, this place can approximate a place where one belongs and feels comfortable."

"Comfortable? That... that was like a scene from a B-grade horror movie! No not even, more like C-grade!"

"It is where I came into existence."

Ranma took a moment to catch her breath and get her stomach under control before she answered.

" 'Came into existence'? I've just realized. We're stuck in each other's heads, but we don't know much about each other do we? And seeing as there's not much to do here, we might as well get to know each other a little better."

"Why?"

Ranma paused to consider that. She hadn't exactly expected to have to explain the decision. Honestly, she hadn't thought it fully through herself.

"Well, you know, while I'd like to think that there's a way for us to seperate again, and for me to get my MALE body back, with what little experience I have with this kinda stuff... I really doubt it. Typically, the magic comes in two classes... the little, annoying stuff like lust potions, love pills, fishing rods of love, memory altering shampoos and the like..."

Rei didn't actively show it, but she took a note that almost everything she'd listed was related to desires of the flesh, and wondered idly how the redhead had come to be so familiar with such items.

"... and then there are the big, permament things that will completely ruin your life forever, like Jusenkyo curses. Since I'm pretty sure that it was magic of some sort that stuck us in this situation... basically, if it hasn't worn off yet, I don't think it's going to."

Rei nodded slightly. The reasoning _seemed_ sound at least... and with no prior experience with this magic herself, best to defer to the opinion of the person who knew more about it.

"So anyway, my thinking was that if we're going to be stuck together forever, we might want to get to know each other better. After all, we'll have to deal with each other constantly. No matter who's in control of the body, we'll never really be able to get away from each other for any alone time or anything, so unless we learn to get along _really_ well, we're going to end up driving each other nuts and killing ourselves."

Rei considered that and nodded slightly again. Sanity was an important issue. The Commander had spent untold millions on psychiatrists to keep her from going off the deep end during her developing stages... or would have, if he hadn't ordered the psychiatrists assassinated afterwards, and all their liquid assets funneled back into NERV.

"That is acceptable."

Ranma waited a moment, but shrugged as Rei gave no indications that she would be the first to speak.

"Well anyway... I was born a boy, and was raised as a martial artist. My father took me away from my mother at an early age to begin a training journey that lasted roughly ten years. Most of it was pretty fun, and it was a worthwhile trip, but bits of it really sucked. Like the Neko-ken training. And all the times pops stole something he shouldn't have and we got run out of town by angry mobs. And Jusenkyo... that really sucked. But things didn't really start going crazy until the old man takes us to Nerima, to visit an old friend of his, and about a block away he pulls me aside and tells me..."

xxx

Rei listened quietly as Ranma explained every detail of her life up until their fusion. In reality, most of it was quite interesting, although she doubted she would find it quite so amusing had she lived through it like Ranma had. In comparison, battling the Angels seemed almost... boring.

That reminded her that Ranma had drawn to a close and seemed to be expecting her to reply with her own life story. She took a moment to consider what to say. Almost everything pertaining to her was classified to the highest degree... but then again, if they were trapped in each other's heads, then it wouldn't be long before Ranma discovered classified things anyway. It wasn't like she could close her eyes and stop listening if the Commander began making plans in front of her.

"I was not born... I was created in a laboratory. I am not human either, but a genetic composition of multiple human donors spliced with genetic material procured from Lilith, the second Angel. The scientific term for what I am is Nephilim."

Rei noted that Ranma didn't seem to realize what that meant. No matter.

"What's an Angel? The only angels I know of are the ones Kasumi would talk about sometimes... with the white wings, robes, halos and harps."

On second thought, perhaps this would be more difficult than she had anticipated...

"An Angel... is a being that is difficult to explain. Their DNA structure is over a ninety percent match with humanity, and yet they are rarely humanoid, or even bipedal. There cellular structure is also anomalous, and contradictory, though the science division once claimed it was 'like frozen light'."

"Huh... that's pretty cool."

"They have also made every indication of desiring to completely wipe out humanity from the face of the earth."

"That's NOT cool. We need to..."

"As of three days prior to your fusion with me, all seventeen angels had been terminated and neutralized. I myself was making preparations for my final function at the time of our fusion."

"... I know I'm not going to like this... 'Final Function'?"

"A controlled Third Impact leading to Instrumentality. Mankind would theoretically be reunited with divinity."

"What's Third Impact? And... theoretically reunited with divinity? What happens if your theory is wrong?"

"Then humanity as a whole would have a loss of cohesion at the molecular structure."

"Huh?"

"In simpler terms, everyone would melt into a puddle."

Ranma considered that and went green.

"_Everyone_? No exceptions, then?"

"None."

"That seems like a pretty big margin of error... either everyone gets to go straight to heaven, or everyone bites it for no reason. I guess I'm just not that thrilled about the fact that it seems like either way, everyone dies."

Rei paused for reflection. She hadn't actually thought about it that way... Still no matter. That was her function. If she denied her function, the commander would have her executed and use the secondary back up memories when awakening her next incarnation. She would be useless for piloting, but mindlessly obedient. That would be all that was neccessary to initiate the Impact.

"And also... I don't understand the whole 'Third Impact' thing. Was there a first and second Impact as well? I'm getting the feeling that whatever that magic did, it was more than just putting me in the back of your head."

"First Impact is the theorized meteor strike that destroyed the dinosaurs. In actuality, the meteor was the shell that the first and second angels, Adam and Lilith, hatched from before they did battle over who would remake the earth. Adam lost, and was forced into hibernation as Lilith created humans to fill the evolutionary vacuum left by the dinosaur's extinction. Second Impact is commonly believed to have resulted when a meteor struck the south pole, destroying most of the antarctic continent and causing massive loss of life as the average sea level rose dramatically. The most heavily hit country was china, which is now mostly underwater. While those are the results, the cause is completely different. A scientific expedition to the south pole, funded by NERV, uncovered the hibernating Angel, Adam. They broke the ice encasing him for research, but once free he awoke, and went on a rampage. Had not Commander Ikari ordered the Lance of Longinus sent along with the expedition, they would have been defenceless against Adam's onslaught, and it would then have turned its gaze to the rest of humanity, Lilith's progeny, until it was able to locate Lilith again. Unfortunately, before Adam could be completely destroyed, it sacrificed itself in a massive explosion. There was only one survivor... a Katsuragi Misato, who was only a child at the time."

"Man... now I'm almost sorry I asked. Anyway... ah. Never mind. Looks like we're waking up. Maybe we can talk more about ourselves another time."

The white mists went gray, then black.

xxx

Rei heard muttering in the background as she opened her eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling... with a large, roughly Rei shaped hole in it.

_"Ah. That would explain why we were stuck in the mental void for so long. I don't think your body is resilient enough to take such an impact without major injury... or maybe not, wow, check out the cracks in the floor. Oh man, that's not concrete beneath the tiles... that's solid stone. We should be dead."_

_'As Nephilim, I have a minor AT field that can assist me in such things, and a modest regeneration rate should the AT field fail me.'_

_"Absolutely no idea what most of that means, but you're probably right. Damn... solid rock. I'd be out for a while, depending on how high we were when we started falling. Wonder how long we were actually out from that... can't be too long, because time passes slower there than in the real world. So less than an hour..."_

"Ah... you're awake."

Rei turned her head towards the voice, while Ranma ignored it in favor of trying to figure out how long they were out.

"I was getting somewhat worried about you. I used to know a couple of people who would habitually end falling from a great height such as that, but typically they would get right back up with no lasting harm done. Tell me young lady... you wouldn't happen to be affiliated with Team Rocket, now would you? No, never mind, never mind, it's really none of my concern, and these days it doesn't matter, really. So then, can you stand?"

Realizing that the old man was waiting for her to stand, or at least make the attempt, and slowly rose to her feet. Thankfully, she hadn't broken or ruptured anything that would be instantly fatal in the fall, so she was pretty much good as new by now. Aside from the painful crick in her lower back as she began to sit up anyway.

"Ah, excellent. Well in that case I'll just call someone to come over and patch the roof, the weather reports claim that it might rain tomorrow."

Rei blinked as the odd old man left. Ranma, however, was gaping after him.

_"Wha... N-no way... This sucks! We're stuck in Nabiki's favorite game!"_

_'? Explain, Saotome.'_

_"Crap, crap, CRAP! Wait... maybe I'm wrong. Maybe its something else, and I'm overreacting. But if I'm not then THIS SUCKS! I was terrible at this game the only time Nabiki let me play!"_

_'Saotome._'

_"Huh... oh, yeah, you have no idea what I'm talking about, do you. Well put bluntly, it looks like we aren't in Kansas anymore, Toto."_

_'Who is Toto?'_

Ranma mentally blinked and slapped her forehead.

_"Crap... you've never read 'The Wizard of Oz', have you. My one good literary reference shot because it didn't exist where you come from. Anyway, it looks like somehow we're inside a video game now."_

_'What is a video game?'_

_"Ah... crap... this is going to take a long time to explain."_

xxx

_'So, a video game is something people do in their spare time, for amusement?'_

_"It's slightly more complicated than that... think of it like... have you watched movies before?"_

_'On occasion I would be invited to join Captain Mitsuragi and the Second and Third children in their dwelling for a meal. On occasion, a movie would be watched afterwards.'_

_"So... that's a yes then? Well think of a video game as like an interactive movie, where what you input at the controls determines the actions of the hero or heroine."_

_'And you believe we have somehow been displaced from Tokyo-3 to one of these videogames?'_

_"Well... actually, I'm hoping otherwise. With any luck, the old guy is just really eccentric, and we can get back to somewhere that one of us recognizes with just a little walking."_

The old man stepped back into the room, but this time he was accompanied by what appeared to be a large, fluffy, yellowish rodent. Yellowish, because it apparently matched the man in age, evidenced by the thick streaks of white through its yellow fur, the clouds in its eyes, and the way the red circles on its cheeks had faded to a light pink. Aside from that, it seemed perfectly healthy.

_"Or... maybe our luck has turned really shitty... and that old guy really is Ash Ketchum and his loyal Pikachu."_

Rei could think of nothing to say to that, and so simply sent a wave of confusion to Ranma.

(A.N. I could just end this chapter right here... nah.)

The old man coughed in an attempt to get Rei's attention.

"Well, I've put in a call to the construction agency and they'll be sending a crew out in the morning. Until then... I suppose if it starts raining we can put a bucket under it or something. Now then... I know everyone who lives in or around Pallet town, and you, I'm afraid, are an unfamiliar face. Are you here to pick up a starter pokemon?"

"N-"

_"Say yes Rei."_

"-Yes."

She blinked, as though surprised that she had changed what she was saying in midword. Professor Ash didn't seem to notice though, as he nodded and stepped out of the room.

_'Saotome. Why did you do that?'_

_"Two reasons. First... we're going to have to have something to do while we're here, right?"_

_'... I suppose that is reasonable.'_

_"And second, if we are inside the game... or a distant fascimile of the game... then I'm going to run on the theory that the magic brought us here for a reason. If we're lucky, then once we complete the game, it'll either spit us back to where we belong, or send us to the next place it wants us to go."_

Rei tried her best to think up an argument disproving that suggestion, but could think of no way to prove the theory invalid. Once again, defer to the one with more experience in these matters.

_'Very well. In that case, what must be done to complete this game?'_

_"Well, the way Nabiki explained it, there are two main goals. The first is to become a 'Master Trainer'. It's not easy though. To do so, you have to battle and defeat the 'Elite Four' with your team of Pokemon. All in a row, one after another. Not the easiest thing to do. And just to earn the right to face the Elite Four, you have to get badges from no less than eight Gym Leaders in different cities, who are themselves not pushovers. Apparently, your rival shows up from time to time as well to make your life difficult."_

_'That seems excessively time consuming. The second goal?'_

_"It's to capture, train, and collect data upon every single Pokemon in the game. That was supposed to be hard enough in the original edition, where there were only one hundred fifty to collect. In the later versions, they added new areas and another hundred more. That was just two years after the ending of the first episode, though, so if Ash is this old, and they added a hundred in just two years... we could be talking thousands of differing species, if luck has truly failed us. Also, there are areas that would only open when the character became a Master Trainer, and Pokemon that would only appear in those areas."_

_"So, yeah, I'm kinda banking on it being the first one."_

"Ah, I'm sorry it took so long. You really caught me at a bad time, miss...?"

"Rei. Ayanami Rei."

"Miss Ayanami. I'm afraid your paperwork hasn't been sent in yet. Nothing to worry about, this sort of thing happens all the time."

Under his breath he muttered something about 'If I'd known then that this job would involve so much bloody paperwork from the bloody leagues, I'd have told Professor Oak _exactly_ where he could shove his job offer.'

"But not only that, this time of year the pickings are rather slim. In fact, I have only two unclaimed Pokemon, and one has been spoken for in advance. My Granddaughter you see, you'll probably meet her tomorrow... and I took the liberty of placing some of her spare clothes in the bath, just through that door. Doubtless it will be a great deal more comfortable than a dusty old towel."

Rei glanced down and mentally shrugged, while Ranma blinked. Both had completely forgotten their current attire... or lack thereof. Rei because it just didn't matter to her, and Ranma because she'd lost track of it with the horrifying revelation of where they were. Although she was adjusting. Slowly.

"In any case... like I said before, I have only one Pokemon available. It was recently shipped in from the Hoenn continent, and is only at five percent of its full growth potential..."

_"Five percent of full potential? Not 'level 5'? I guess things are slightly different than in the actual game. Or maybe it's just that so much time has passed."_

"... but nevertheless, it will make an excellent starter Pokemon. Catch."

Rei fumbled slightly with the red and white ball as it was tossed to her, causing a prodigious mental wince from Ranma's portion of their brain, but managed not to drop it.

"I'll see you again in the morning, miss Ayanami. When my Granddaughter arrives."

_"And I'm guessing that right there would be our Rival. Just like Ash's was Professor Oak's nephew."_

Rei stared at the little red and white ball with the slightest trace of disgust in her eyes. All she wanted was to force the evolution of the human race into a single collective entity, only incidentally rendering the world a wasteland as a byproduct of the action.

Was that too much to ask?

xxx

A.N. Alright... this chapter is nothing like what I had planned in the last chapter. I had planned a run through Alice Borchardt's 'Night of the Wolf' book and was considering sending Rei/Ranma to meet Dracula... the original Stoker novelization Dracula, mind you... before even considering sending them to any other anime or video game based world whatsoever, much less Pokemon.

However... production hit a slight snag when I completely lost my plans for this story. I tried to rewrite them, but I couldn't remember what the hell I was thinking by putting them in the Roman empire era anyway. Eventually I just gave up and went with the next best thing... making a complete U-turn with the plot in order to do something drastically different from what I suggested I was going to do last chapter. Yeah, I botched this up good.

Still, now that I'm going with a radically new plotline and set of universes for Rei/Ranma to be launched randomly through, I have confidence that it'll work out well enough that people will be willing to ignore this little slip-up... please?TTTT

Anyway, I've already chosen their starter Pokemon. I'm not going to come out and say it, but it is from the Hoenn region. For those who haven't played Pokemon recently, it's the area you wander around in in... well the Emerald pack at least. Pretty sure it's the same for Ruby and Sapphire, but I don't own copies of those.

And one more little glitch that nobody probably noticed except me... the last chapter was written assuming that Ranma bonded with Rei II. This chapter was written assuming she was Rei III. My goof, and I didn't even realize until I'd finished with the chapter. Just assume from this point on that she was always Rei III, alright?


	4. Chapter 4

Wanderer

xxx

Ranma flipped the little red and white ball through the air. Catching it in one hand, she flipped it up through the air again before sighing and setting it on top of the neat stack of clothes by the sink.

"Pokemon... huh. There are no words to describe exactly how much this sucks. Oh well... I suppose I could spend a few more minutes like this... doubt the good Professor is the kind to accidentally walk in on someone."

_"I do not understand. If it is imperative that none realize your existence, then why run the risk by exposing your existence, even in private?"_

Ranma sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose.

_'It's important that we compromise about things like this, and come to an agreement both sides can live with. Like I said before, there's no way we can seperate to cool of after an argument. I just gotta have control of our body every so often, even if only for a few minutes, and I don't really do anything with it. It's important to me.'_

_"I see..."_ She paused to consider that._ "I wish to initiate Third Impact. It is important to me."_

_'I... you... Let's just put this particular discussion off until later, alright?'_

Rei shrugged mentally, which swiftly translated to physically as Ranma dipped into the hot water. The sensation of their body shifting to one she was accustomed to from the one her 'roommate' was was much less disconcerting than it had been the first time. A slight tingle, and it was done. She couldn't understand why Ranma was so vexed by it.

Ah yes... she had originally been male. That would put a crimp in things. And yet she was so practiced with her female body, that it was easy to forget.

After a while she stepped out of the furo and dried herself off before dressing... and holding that little ball in her hand. She stared at it for a moment, then placed it in a pocket.

In the end, the storm clouds passed by without rain that night.

xxx

As the repairmen arrived, Professor Ash took Rei out to pick up a new set of clothes.

"After all, the League grants all new trainers an account starting with three thousand credits, and at this point in your career there is nothing you could spend it better on than a good set of clothes. Besides... I'm afraid that while I personally have no problem with it, my granddaughter will... not be pleased if she arrives to find a stranger wearing clothes that she can recall wearing. The only other thing that a decent trainer can't scavenge for themselves are pokeballs, and I'll be happy to spot you a few of my spares."

Of course, the second they walked into the clothing store, problems started. Rei wanted a standard schoolgirl uniform. A seifuku. Ranma had put her foot down. It wasn't a matter of her not liking it, which she didn't, at all, it was a matter of them having to tramp for miles through tall grass, up and down mountains, and through damp, dirty tunnels. In the end Rei had agreed that, just maybe, that wouldn't be the best sort of outfit after all. That shot everything with a short skirt off the list, which was roughly sixty percent of the stores entire stock.

After looking again, Rei was forced to admit that it would be unlikely to find a NERV-issue plugsuit in the store. As such, she left Ranma to choose the outfit. After discarding everything that had prints of pokeballs or pokemon, _"If... no, When we manage to leave this place, we'll be taking our clothes with us, right? I refuse to wear something like that in a realistic society."_, was unneccessarily frilly, was made up mostly of bows, or was mind numbingly _**PINK**_, they were left with two reasonable choices and Rei was left with the final decision.

And so they were left wearing snug black pants made of some form of material neither could identify, but which reminded Rei of her plugsuit, a shirt that may or may not have been made out of silk, and a very nice set of gloves that seemed to be made of the same material as the pants. Ranma had suggested going barefoot, but Rei had overridden him and splurged the rest of their money on socks and a set of boots with steel in the toe, but some sort of gel inflating the sole to prevent excess wear and tear on the feet.

Ranma didn't get it, but Professor Ash had nodded approvingly as Rei added them to the purchase. Whatever.

Along with the rest of the clothes had come a complimentary belt and set of shades. Rei had placed the pokeball that the Professor had given them into the first recession on the belt and hesitated only slightly at putting them on. The shades, however, were a bit more of a chore. Eventually she'd convinced Rei not to throw them away out of hand, even if she doubted she would ever be able to convince Rei to wear them. Ranma's only argument, left unused, was that the shades would disguise the abnormal color of Rei's eyes.

Rei simply didn't care.

Upon heading back toward's the Professor's house slash laboratory, they quickly noted a disturbance. A girl was running around yelling at the repairmen... something about how 'the perverts' were 'ruining her debut of pokemon training mastery'

_" ' Oh no... it's an Asuka/Akane clone... ' "_

xxx

Indeed, while the girl looked nothing like either's previous friends, she seemed to have combined all the worst aspects of their personalities. She was loud, rude, overbearing, self-centered, and a closet pervert if the way she would leer at the seat of Rei's pants, then blink as if she only just realized what she was doing and turn away. Only to return to leering less than a minute later.

Rei found it mildly unsettling. Ranma found it terrifying. Women acting in such a manner had never been good news before... why would that change now?

Thankfully, they wouldn't have to suffer young miss Celia's company long, as Professor Ash led them directly to the laboratory portion of his house, where a pokeball and two small red objects sat. After thinking about it, Ranma identified them as Pokedexes, probably. The Professor lifted them from the table and held them out, a single Pokedex in his left hand, and a 'dex and 'ball in his right.

"That's it then Grandpa? That's my-?"

"Yes, Celia. This is your starter Pokemon. An Eevee, just as you requested."

Celia squealed with glee and lunged into a tackling hug. Somewhere in midleap, the 'dex and Pokeball found their way into her hands.

Rei paced slowly up to them and plucked the other from Professor Ash's waving hand. A few quick button presses confirmed that it was registered to her and she turned to leave.

She didn't even make it to the door.

"Hey. Hey wait!"

Sighing, Rei turned.

_"And now comes the first Pokemon battle."_

_'Suggestions, Saotome?'_

_"Hell if I know. I prefer to fight on my own... once I got to this point in the game and lost to Gary, I quit and changed to Mario. I told you... I know a little about it, but mostly only what I read in Nabiki's magazines. She was fanatical about this game. I wasn't."_

_'... Magnificent.'_

_"Isn't it just?"_

"Now that we've both got a Pokemon... let's test them out! EEVEE-!"

"NOT in here, thank you." Ash interrupted. "I have quite a few pieces of delicate machinery in this room. If you'll give me a moment, I can take you to the field outside, a much more suitable place for a Pokemon battle."

"Oh... Okay, Grandpa."

xxx

"Now, you see? A nice, open field where your Pokemon can go all out without damaging anything expensive."

_'Saotome. How do I make it leave the ball?'_

_"Ah... you know... I dunno. The game just had you step to the side and then the Pokemon came in from off screen."_

_'You are turning out to be tremendously useless.'_

_"Just watch her or something, I guess."_

"Alright! EEVEE, GO!"

As she said that, Celia hurled the pokeball forwards, to where it erupted in red light, releasing a small brown animal.

"Ee. Vee?"

"So that is how it works..." Rei muttered as she plucked the ball off of her belt. However she paused, holding the ball in her hand.

_"But if we do that, we're gonna look REALLY STUPID!"_

Apparently responding to that thought, the ball opened in Rei's hand, and the Pokemon within appeared before them in a burst of red light.

The Ralts cocked its head to the side as it looked at its opponent.

"Eh? A Ralts?" Celia muttered, before breaking out in a grin. "Easy win! I'll even let you make the first move!"

"I am unfamiliar with this Pokemon type." Rei said, at Ranma's suggesstion. "Can you offer advice, Professor?"

"Well... it's really not my place to interfere in a match. But check your Pokedex, it should have all the attacks your Pokemon has learned listed."

Rei shrugged and did so, flipping the casing on the front open like a book as she started pressing buttons.

_Ralts. Psychic type._

_"Psychic... can it hear us talking?"_

_'Perhaps.'_

Given the way it had turned to stare oddly at them, it was a good bet that it could. Rei skimmed past the description of the type until she found what she wanted.

_This Ralts has learned these attacks:_

_Growl_

_Leer_

_and Telekinesis_

_"Alright... if I remember right, Growl and Leer scare the opponent to lower status. I think Growl lowers attack, while Leer lowers defense. I could be wrong though."_

_'And the other?'_

_"No idea."_

Rei frowned lightly, testament to the frustration she was feeling at the moment.

_"I told you before that I wouldn't be able to help much. Don't take it out on me."_

The frown slowly dissappeared as she pointedly ignored Ranma's comments and turned back to the battlefield.

"Are you ready to lose?"

"Leer."

The short command was enough, as the sudden shine in the Ralts' eyes sent the opposing Eevee a shivering half-step back.

"Ignore it Eevee! Full speed ahead with your Tackle attack, now!"

Ranma scoffed as the Eevee began it's lunge.

_"Is that it? All you have to do to dodge that is to take one step to the side, right about... now."_

And it was proved that the short Psychic was listening in on them, at least to a small degree, as it hopped to the side exactly when Ranma indicated, leaving a confused Eevee hurtling past it into the ground.

"Eevee, Tackle attack again!"

"Telekinesis."

This time, rather than sidestepping, the Ralt's TK attack caught hold of the opponent in mid-lunge, then hurled it into the air. It didn't fly too far, but it slammed painfully into the ground when it landed.

The Professor was impressed. On the one hand, there was his granddaughter, who, while he knew she had tested in the upper ten percent of beginning trainers, was loud and excited and generally making a fool of herself at the moment. Nevertheless, she was controlling her Eevee well, although she was fighting a bit more offensively than the situation demanded. And losing badly because of it.

On the other was the newcomer, Rei. Her paperwork had obviously been well and truly lost in transit somewhere, indicating she had come from another league. So in essence, he knew absolutely nothing about the girl, and yet despite that, and despite her admittedly being completely unfamiliar with the only Pokemon he'd had available for her, she was taking to it like a fish to water. She was calm, cool, collected, and battling like a pro trainer, or a gym leader. It seemed that she'd also discovered the little secret about Psychic types... that they could read you just as easily as they could read their opponent. It was the reason they were so difficult to catch in the wild, and why they were so useful when properly trained, as once they were used enough to the trainer, they didn't have to vocalize their commands at all, a thought would do just as well.

He was looking forward to the data the Pokedexes would send back on their particular training styles.

"Alright, this time for sure! Tackle it, Eevee!"

"Telekinesis."

_"Instead of just throwing it into the air, lift it up and slam it into the ground a couple of times. That should finish it up."_

Ash flinched slightly at the brutality of the Ralts' finishing move. Then again, it was still perfectly legal, just a slight variation on the use of the standard TK attack. He wondered if maybe the Ralts was dipping into its trainer's thoughts already... they were usually a very gentle and timid breed.

"Eevee cannot continue. Match goes to Ayanami Rei."

Celia withdrew her Eevee into its Pokeball, then sank to her knees.

"Lost? I can't believe it..."

Rei made to recall the Ralts, but paused as it shied away from her. After a moment, she replaced the ball.

"Very well."

She turned and began walking away, Ralts hopping beside her.

"Wait."

Celia got up and walked to Rei, glaring at her. Then she grinned.

"I'll get you next time, Wondergirl."

Unnoticed as she turned and left, Rei's eye twitched. Just once, but that was enough. Then she spun and paced away as well, Ralts hopping beside her.

_"Wondergirl... huh. I wonder... did she hit a nerve?"_

_'I do not wish to speak of the matter. However... it is strange. I feel drawn to these... Pokemon. As though...'_

_"Trying to change the subject?"_

_'Saotome. What do you know about how these creatures came into existence?'_

_"Eh... Pokemon? I'd imagine that someone had a strange flight of fancy and then realized, 'hey, wait a minute... there are _millions_ of suckers out there who would pay money for a game like-'"_

_'No, Saotome. Be serious."_

_"... You're no fun at all. Anyway... I have no Idea. Try looking it up in the Pokedex. If they've been around so long, they have to have some extra functions aside from just listing which Pokemon you've seen or caught."_

Rei considered it, then chose a small copse of trees nearby for shade as she experimented with the dex. Ralts looked relieved... it was obviously not used to traveling long distances.

After clicking a few buttons, Rei figured out how to leave the Pokemon encyclopedia function. It was more difficult to do than she had imagined, and only her experiences with watching Dr. Akagi work on the Magi had let her do it. It was almost as if nobody wanted people to know there was more to the pokedex.

And more there was. A connection to a huge library of digital information for one. On the other hand, there were the many, many tracking, recording, and transmitting programs. That right there would probably be why they usually restricted access to the encyclopedia functions.

Quickly running through the programs, she identified which programs were absolutely neccessary to continue the dex's operation and deleted all the others. Now instead of transmitting a detailed record of every little thing she did, it would only transmit when she caught a new Pokemon or evolved one. Everything else was confidential.

Finished with that little bit of work... and in only six hours... Rei went back to accessing the datafiles from the online library, thankful that the screen was backlit, as the sun had gone down an hour ago. 'The theorized first Pokemon.' That sounded like a good place to start.

_ACCESS RESTRICTED TO FIELD RESEARCHER CLEARANCE._

Frowning slightly, Rei backed up out of that file and tried something else. 'The myth of creation, Man and Pokemon'.

_ACCESS RESTRICTED TO FIELD RESEARCHER CLEARANCE._

She tried several other things. No luck. Almost everything related to what she was looking for was restricted from the general public, despite the long odds of someone actually figuring out a way to access it through their pokedex.

That left her even more curious. But the only way to get her hands on those files would be to get herself registered as a 'Field Researcher', and there were only two ways to do that. First would be through hacking the entire database and giving whatever shields and firewalls something else to focus on while she subtly added her name to the list... or she could do things the legal way.

Surprisingly, that would be easier.

A few button presses later and a page showing the duties and priveleges of a field researcher came up. She would be paid a stipend of one thousand credits a day by the league officials. Nifty. On the other hand, as a field researcher, she would be expected to make an in-depth case study on a specific pokemon. If she discovered anything interesting about it that hadn't been noticed before, it would be added to the pokedex for public consumption. However, the only pokemon she currently had was Ralts. Rei considered asking Ranma for advice.

_"SNXXX."_

But she had fallen asleep a long time previously. Mentally shrugging, she typed in a few more keys, then hit 'Send' and set the Pokedex into a low-power state. Probably not neccessary, given that whatever sort of battery the thing ran off of would be good for about the next two hundred years, but habits die hard.

Back in Pallet town, Professor Ash was most impressed. Not even a full day had passed, and young miss Ayanami had not only hacked the pokedex, but removed the 'extra' programs and sent in a form requesting the status of field researcher. Unfortunately, she seemed to have missed that she had to be sponsored by a senior researcher to be approved.

He considered that for a moment, then typed something into his computer and hit Send.

After all, if the girl was that smart, she deserved the position, and she would be sending her reports to him directly, with almost the same effect as leaving the programs active would have. A win-win situation.

He leaned back into his chair and resumed stroking the sleeping Pikachu as the screen went back to playing his favorite telivision program.

xxx

Rei tended to sleep with her eyes half open. While that was an odd quirk, Ranma was happy about it, because that meant she could see right now. Granted, she couldn't so much as move her eyes so that she was looking at something other than the Ralts curled up in their lap, or twitch a finger or toe, but at least she could see.

_"Rei... Wake up Rei... C'mon Rei..."_

_'Nn.'_

_"I can't move the body on my own, Rei. I've been sitting here for over an hour and unless you wake up so we can get moving and DO SOMETHING I'm going to go APE SHIT-"_

A brief shower of water to interrupt Ranma's mental dialogue later and she looked up at the sky. Sure enough, it was very overcast. Well... and here she'd just thought dawn was taking longer than normal. Her head turned back down and she made eye contact with the, now very much awake, Ralts. It stared at her, head cocked to the side like it had never seen her before. No wait, it hadn't.

"... What?"

Apparently confirming something, it shrugged and went back to sleep. Ranma held back a sweatdrop.

"Well... I guess that works."

Ranma frowned. Something was buzzing in their pocket. What could be... Oh.

_'Rei... The Pokedex is buzzing. What do I do Rei?'_

Ranma got the odd feeling that something in his head had just sat up and begun blinking.

_"E-mail. Answer it."_

_'How?'_

_"The button. No, that button. The one next to it. Press it twice."_

Ranma did so and blinked.

_"Now press..."_

_'Y'know what? Gimme a minute, and I'll let you deal with this.'_

Ranma reached into her pocket and pulled out a thermos... odd, because it couldn't have possibly fit in her pocket in the first place. She unscrewed the lid, then looked one way and the other before extending her index finger when she was sure there was nobody to see. After a moment, the tip of her finger began glowing with an inner light, and she dipped it in the water inside. After a few seconds, a light steam began to rise from it and she splashed the warm water in her face, shifting Rei to control.

Rei dumped the rest of the thermos' contents to the side as she went back to the dex and began rapidly pressing buttons. As she did so, the Ralts began pressing its head into her stomach and, without knowing quite why, she dropped one hand down and began stroking its head. It shuddered for a moment, then pressed its head, or more specifically, its horn, more insistently into her hand, much like a housecat. Fortunately, Ranma missed that correlation.

_"Huh, wha...? Accepted? For what?"_

_'A job.'_

_"Oh..."_ Ranma's curiousity vanished like vapor in the wind... then returned full force.

_"Wait... this isn't going to take time away from us getting out of this place, is it?"_

_'It will not interfere.'_

_"... Y'know, that doesn't really tell me much."_

Rei didn't deign to answer as her fingers flew over the miniature keyboard that had slid out of the side of the dex.

_'We should consider procuring a mobile computer. Linking it to the dex would greatly speed this process.'_

_"Yeah... sure... whatever. I'll go and buy a laptop with... I dunno, maybe the bark from trees? Or maybe we'll happen across a particularly rare and expensive berry. We got no money. As of this point, our assets include the clothes on our back, the handful of pokeballs the Professor gave us before we left, the Pokedex, Ralts, and maybe thirty or so credits left over from the shopping spree the other day. We can't sell anything, so basically that boils down to thirty credits. We're broke."_

_'Incorrect. As of four minutes ago, our liquid assets have risen to one thousand and thirty credits.'_

_"Wha... how did that happen?"_

_'Advance pay on our new job.'_

_"Uh... well... hun... fine then. Let's just go and... catch a Pidgey or something. You're supposed to be able to find them just about anywhere."_

_'Duly noted.'_

Ralts wasn't exactly ecstatic when Rei carefully shooed it off her lap, but it dutifully stood up and began hopping alongside her as she waded into the hip high grass. After a few feet it paused as though it had only just thought of something and then teleported directly to Rei's shoulder. While she staggered slightly from the unexpected addition of about fifteen pounds she adjusted quickly and continued loping through the field.

_'Incidentally, Saotome... is there a logical reason for the accellerated growth of my hair?'_

_"Huh?"_

_'My hair has grown a full inch and a half since our first meeting. Is there a reason for this phenomena?'_

_"Wow. The only time _my_ hair ever grew quickly was during the 'Dragon Whisker' incident. Although at that point it was something more like a foot and a half a second."_

_'Not possible.'_

_"Oh yeah? Take a look."_

With a little effort, Ranma sent the memory of that day across the mental border. Rei didn't even slow her steady lope, although her eyes dilated slightly.

_'I find that whole scenario oddly disturbing.'_

_"Tell me about it. But anyway, I've got absolutely no idea about why your hair is growing faster. You sure it's not just because of you being a... Ne... Nepher... whatever it was?"_

_'Impossible. The only time that any accellerated shifts in the Nephilim anatomy are recorded is...'_

_"...? Is what?"_

_'I must... consider this.'_

Rei stuck her hand into a small pool of water held in an interestingly shaped tree, leaving Ranma once more in control of their body as it shrank and the colors shifted. Ralts didn't do much except shift slightly in the crook of her neck. Ranma blinked.

_'Hey, wait, what?'_

She was answered with silence. Grunting, she turned and stalked back into the tall grass.

_'Fine. Be that way.'_

xxx

Rei was pondering her inner turmoil. Once the Angels had been dealt with, her only reason for existing was to create a controlled Third Impact. But in order to do so, she was required to be in what would be termed the 'larval' stage of the Nephilim process. Not that she in any way resembled an insect grub, but in that she was not complete.

Once she was complete, she would have the power to match an Angel in her own right, but her capability to initiate the Third Impact would be completely nullified.

She had begun to enter the 'pupae' stage.

How long this would last until she was complete... the second had entered and exited the stage and gained completion in less than thirty seconds. Of course that had been in an extremely high pressure situation, and roughly a second after she'd attained completion she had self-destructed her Eva, so... Also, the second had most of a decade before she was completed and transformed into... you know, Rei wasn't sure what the completed form would look like. The only people who had seen it were the scientists who had retrieved and disposed of the second's cadaver, and they were either extremely tight lipped or had been disposed of afterwards.

But in any case, the second had had nearly a decade before entering larval phase, and she'd not been awake for more than half a year. It was imposs... wait, perhaps all the time she spent just growing in the tank counted? It was possible... that could explain part of it. But then, the transformation seemed to be taking a lot longer than it had for the second. She wasn't sure how to feel about that.

Sure on the one hand, it would be difficult to explain a sudden transformation away, but on the other hand... it wasn't just that her purpose had been to cause Third Impact, she _wanted_ to do it, obsessed about it with every fiber of her being. The completion was like watching her only long term dream floating away and she couldn't reach out to pull it back. A longer pupae stage just seemed like it was prolonging the agony.

As far as she could figure, she had at best two weeks, maybe three, before she was complete. The odds of finishing whatever they were meant to do here, then being returned to her domocile with enough time left before she was complete to fulfill her purpose... the odds were staggeringly astronomical.

And so she began working out different ways to trigger the Impact, once they returned to Tokyo-3.

xxx

A.N. Hrm. Can't think of much to say, really. Except one thing.

The other day I was surfing Mediaminer and I went through some Pokemon fics looking for inspiration for this one. Big mistake. Every other fic I saw was Yaoi, usually pairing Ash with Lance or Gary. So I pass them by and find one that isn't Yaoi, but looks interesting. I only glance for a second at the summary, just long enough to see the words 'Ash', 'Umbreon' and 'Espeon'. So I decide to read it to see if I might want to use one of the involved Pokemon in this fic... after all, I have no idea of what the Pokemon would be like aside from what I can glean from the dex in the game.

Now THIS was a huge mistake.

CURSE you, _shadowphantomness_!!! Because of you, my relatively pure and naive view on one of my favorite games has been forever tainted! GWAAA!!!


	5. Chapter 5

Wanderer

xxx

Ranma was frustrated.

From what she understood about Nabiki's game, the tall grass was the place to go if you wanted to find wild Pokemon. You apparently couldn't take two steps without tripping over one of the things.

She'd been walking through the tallest, thickest patches of grass she could find for the last six hours and all she had to show for it was insect bites.

"Where the hell are all the damn Pokemon!?"

Ralts shifted, then teleported off of Ranma's shoulder and onto a rock. Then it began waving its arms in an apparently random fasion.

"Oh. Charades. Great. I hate charades. Lets see. Timmy... fell... down... the... well...?"

Ralts hung its head in shame and began going through the motions again, more slowly this time.

"Okay, try this again. Hunched over... head waving around randomly... jittery... Nervous? No not quite, huh? Scared, then?"

Ralts hopped into the air and started nodding rapidly.

"Scared? The Pokemon are scared? Of what?"

Ralts went back to charades. First it went down on one knee with its hands pressed together. When Ranma didn't seem to get it it moved on through several different poses. Eventually, out of frustration, it just curled up one arm and slapped at its bicep. Ranma finally seemed to get it, somewhat.

"Muscles? Why would they be scared of... no, wait, Strength. They're scared of me, running away, because I'm so strong? That... that sucks. That's really going to throw a monkey wrench into things."

Ralts hesitated, then nodded once. That wasn't exactly what it had been trying to convey, but it was close enough. Actually it wasn't really sure it could convey what it meant through charades... especially not to the red-haired facet of its master. It wasn't just strength, although from what it had seen as it drifted through the master's twin sets of memories, she had that in abundance... the red facet at least. It was something else... an indescribable aura of _POWER_ that resonated with the very fiber of the creatures being.

It was most disturbing, and were they not its master, it would be as terrified of them as the wild brethren of the fields were. Even so, Ralts could feel itself growing stronger as time passed, simply by being in close proximity to its master. Even so, it knew that the humans would collect their kind from the wild and seemed to only be able to amuse themselves by making them do battle. Not that many of the brethren had a problem with this... in fact, you would be hard pressed to find a single one of their kind that did not enjoy a good fight now and again. The problem was... Ralts was a fair bit more intelligent than most of the brethren it had met. Granted, that was mostly because it was of the Psychic type, which naturally increased its brain activity, but it was much more intelligent than the rest of its broodsiblings had been as well.

The humans would not only make 'their' brethren fight, but they would automatically place wagers on the outcome of the match. That worried Ralts... not because it was in any way unconfident in its own abilities, added to by the strange aura of power and the red facets mental hints during battle, but in that it knew that if it was the only brethren with the master, then they would have large areas of weakness. Any of the Dark brethren, for instance, would be completely immune to any and all of its psychic abilities with the barely possible exception of _maybe_ Telekinesis. If Ralts was lucky, and caught it off guard.

If Ralts lost a battle, and its master had no other brethren to back it up, then Ralts would have lost master money. With less money, things would be more difficult for both Ralts and the master. Most brethren would never put such a convoluted line of thought together, but for Ralts it was like connecting numbered dots.

The problem was the Master's aura. With the wild brethren not only avoiding them, but actively fleeing the area when they sensed her prescence, it would be a very difficult matter to add to the masters store of brethren. Of course, there would always be the brethren that were born on the humans special breeding farms and raised alongside humans. Granted, they would all be weaker than a member of the same class of brethren that had lived in the wild its whole life, but not so much as to be too noticeably different.

The problem with that was that there were generally two ways to get them... either in a trade, where two humans would swap brethren, something that was out of the question, or to exchange one of the tamer brethren for money.

Money that Ralt's master didn't have.

"This is just great." Ranma muttered as Ralts came to the conclusion that there was no simple and easy conclusion in this situation.

"Whatever. Lets just head on to town then. North is that way, so it's probably somewhere in that general direction!"

Ralts teleported back to the red facet's shoulder as she pulled off on a steady lope northward.

xxx

Deep within their shared mind, Rei let off a sigh. She was drawing a complete blank on the whole matter. If she did not cause Third Impact, there seemed to be no way to cause it, now that the Angels were all gone. Not that leaving an Angel in control of Third impact was a good idea anyway... like leaving a fox to guard a henhouse.

The commander would have a solution. Granted, the odds were that his solution would be to have her eliminated and activate the fourth, but it was a solution nontheless. No matter how distasteful she found it.

Then again, did it really matter? She could only start Third impact from Tokyo-3, so until she returned there, all her plans would be best left on hold. No need to put the cart before the horse.

She carefully re-opened her mind, mildly curious about what Ranma had been up to in her absence.

xxx

"So, this is Viridian city. It's... different, from what I had expected."

Indeed, Ranma had been expecting a small, sleepy little country town. The eighth gym was supposed to be located there, but that was about all he knew about it. Still, having traveled through quite a few out of the way towns, she'd had some vague idea of what to expect.

This... this was nothing like what she'd expected.

For one Viridian was easily large enough to bypass 'town' completely. More like a small city. And a good chunk of it was covered in a thin haze of smoke and smog. Some sort of industry? The remaining third was made up of large, expensive looking mansions and a building that could be a good sized warehouse, but was probably the gym. A good sixty, maybe seventy, years had passed judging by Professor Ash's age, so that might explain it. Many things could happen in such a space of time.

Still... she couldn't help but wonder what had led to these changes. Then she stiffened as she noticed something.

Walking casually down the street, without a care in the world, was a man in a purple hat and outfit, with a small red 'R' emblazoned on the left chest pocket. The uniform, and insignia, of Team Rocket, the game's main antagonists.

What was odd was that none of the other commuters gave him so much as a second glance.

However, once he caught sight of her, he made a beeline through the crowds to her position. Ranma froze... what would she do now? Was he going to challenge her to a Pokemon match? She wasn't ready! But as he stopped near her and smiled lightly.

"New trainer, huh?"

Ranma blinked, then fidgeted lightly... acutely aware that the face on the I.D. in the dex in her pocket wasn't hers.

"Something like that." She temporized.

"It's hard at the beginning, isn't it? Oh, by the way, let me know if you see a girl... bout your age, but with blue hair and red eyes. The boss wants me to deliver her an invitation to his manor when she gets here from Pallet."

She blinked and nodded slowly.

"I'll do that..."

She turned to leave, but he called after her.

"Hold on, one more thing... while you're here, how about a practice match? No bets on the outcome, of course... just for the sake of training."

_This_ was more like what she'd expected.

"... okay. Where?"

"There's an empty lot two blocks this way. Or alternatively, there's a small ring four blocks that way. Your choice... you'll have to walk further to get to the ring, but there'll be more people watching."

He arched an eyebrow as she immediately turned for the empty lot. That said that she was either lazy, or private and didn't care for hordes of people watching her matches. The one wasn't so good, but the other showed promise. Most young trainers were just in it to have people cheer at them. The first sign of hardship, they would break and they would run home to mommy, half the time just ditching their Pokemon off the side of the road somewhere.

He hated that kind of spoiled brat.

Still, this was good. The report said that the Ayanami girl had been given a Ralts as her starter... coming across another trainer with a Ralts would prepare him for the battle that would be _her_ invitation. Technically, he didn't have to win... but it would give an overall better impression if he did.

"Here we are... now, are you prepared? Zubat, you're up!"

"Ralts... well, you know what to do."

Ralts hopped off her shoulder and took a place on the ground as the batlike opponent appeared in a flash of red light. Ranma subtly began prodding the pokedex, looking for all the world like she was checking the information on Zubat before the fight began, but really re-checking what moves Ralts had available.

_'Confusion? When did that happen? And... holy crap, 13? When and how did it hit lev... thirteen percent if all we've been doing is just walking around? Maybe it was because of it not being in the Pokeball the whole time...'_

_"What are our current circumstances, Saotome?"_

_'Battling. You're back then? No more extended periods of locking yourself away in our skull somewhere?'_

_"For the moment, no."_

"If you've found what you're looking for, then let's begin! Zubat, Wing Attack!"

As it dive bombed towards Ralts, Ranma's gaze snapped back up from the dex.

"Teleport behind it."

It worked perfectly and the Zubat missed by a mile, then flapped back up to hover and wait for the next command.

"Fascinating..." the Rocket grunt muttered as he stroked his chin, then raised his voice as he continued. "Using Teleport as a short range dodging maneuver rather than the long range travel that it's typically used for. Such an innovation... can be called nothing less than genius. No wonder you didn't want crowds watching, that's one hell of an ace card, if nobody sees it coming."

"Thank you... I guess."

"Let's continue. Zubat, supersonic!"

"Confusion."

Ralts' eyes and horn flashed, and the Zubat dropped to the ground, twitching.

"Hmm... I see. Zubat didn't even faze you. Return."

As it faded into red light and he put the Pokeball away, he unclipped another from his belt.

"My second Pokemon, however, will win me this match. You're up, Sneasel!"

Ralts nearly had a heart attack as the Dark brethren entered the battlefield. Ranma went slightly stiff as well, but for different reasons.

_'Not a cat... it just resembles one slightly. Really more of a... something that isn't at all like a cat, really. Like a squirrel. Or a mongoose. Yeah, that's better.'_

"You would not believe what I had to go through to get it, but I can confidently look back and say that it was worth it."

Ranma checked the dex for real this time, scanning the description and focusing on the point naming its main elemental type as Dark.

_'That's new... oh crap. Immune to psychic attacks. We'll have to go all out.'_

Ralts wholeheartedly agreed, and subtly, its muscles tensed, knowing that this would be a very difficult battle.

"Sneasel, Slash it!"

"Teleport behind it!"

"Ice beam!"

"Telekinesis, move the log in front of you!"

The ice beam impacted with the dead log, freezing it solid at an angle, but otherwise expending its energy uselessly. As Ranma glanced around the lot, an idea hit her.

_'Gotta bank on it really being able to read my mind, though... if I explain what I want out loud, the Sneasel will have a chance to dodge.'_

"Ralts, the special technique! Gravel shield!"

_'Lift all the pebbles you can find with your telekinesis attack, and gather them close to you, spinning around you.'_

Ranma sighed with relief as Ralts did exactly as she'd intended, and the rocks formed into a half-sphere in front of it. The Sneasel and its trainer both hesitated for a moment, gaping in astonishment at the new move. They would recover in seconds, but by then it would be too late.

"Special technique, second stage A, Stone Wave!"

She clearly pictured what she wanted to happen, and was rewarded as the pebbles all surged forward, too fast for the stunned Sneasel to dodge. They impacted, and it screeched at every impact as the rocks crashed into it like a tidal wave. After nearly a full minute of the relentless assault, the waves shot into the air, then looped around and smashed into the ground all at once, hitting it one final time and burying most of its body. Ralts dropped to its knees from exhaustion... the new technique had taken a lot out of it. The Sneasel made a half hearted attempt to dig itself out, but gave up after a moment and waited pitiably for its master to rescue it. After another moment of gaping, he did so, and it was reduced to red light as it withdrew into the Pokeball.

"I'm... most impressed. You've beaten me, fair and square. And that move... you made it yourself, didn't you? You're one of a kind, girl."

He shook his head in admiration.

"I'm only supposed to invite young miss Ayanami... but I don't think the boss will be too upset when I let him know that I've extended the invitation to you as well. Catch."

The Rocket grunt flipped something at her and she dextrously plucked it out of the air. It was a small card, about the size of a credit card.

"That'll give you access to the Rocket training facility. It's two blocks east of the gym... I wouldn't advise hitting the gym just yet though. Just to be qualified to enter, you have to have raised every Pokemon in your team to at least seventy percent of their full potential. That's a hell of a lot harder than you might think. But feel free to use the training facility at any time... you can usually find the boss there during the day, and he's always happy to interview new faces. No pressure to join up though... You don't have to be a member of Team Rocket to use the facilities... you just have to impress one of us enough to earn a pass card. You've done that and more."

Ranma blinked again as the man turned to leave, probably heading for a Pokemon center, as she tried to formulate a response. This was not at all how she'd expected things to happen.

"Hey... hey wait! Why... exactly are you doing something so nice? I don't know much about Team Rocket, but from what I read, I expected you to act like some sort of thug..."

The man bit off a short laugh.

"You must have been reading about the _original_ Team Rocket... that was a _long_ time ago kid. When old Giovanni was the boss, and when he dissappeared and his nephew, Johann, took over. But something like twenty years ago, Johann just dissappeared and his son, Giovanni the second, took up the reins. Since then, we've gone through something of a reorganization in the ranks, and of our priorities. The boss could explain it better though. Like I said, during the daytime you'll almost always find him at the training facilities."

He turned to leave again. This time, Ranma didn't call him back.

_"And what, exactly, was that in aid of?"_

_'...Not sure. But this is way different from what I was expecting. It almost sounded like... he was trying to convince me to join up with them.'_

_"Why not do so?"_

_'Well... they're the bad guys... I think'_

_"Did he not claim that they had changed from their original purpose?"_

_'Yeah... I guess that makes sense. It has been a long time since the timeframe I was familiar with, even though I wasn't that familiar with it. I guess things really have changed. Crap... that means that whatever foreknowledge I might have had is completely shot.'_

_"You are only just now realizing this?"_

_'Well, 'scuze me for clinging to my pleasant delusions that I might be able to plan ahead a little for once. Though given the chaos that was Nerima, I suppose I should be used to it by now.'_

_"... I suggest you take him up on his offer."_

_'What? Why?'_

_"If you wish to plan further ahead than simply struggling day to day until we find a way to leave this world, the first step would be getting a job. I may be wrong, but there do not seem to be a multitude of prospects."_

_'Y'know... you got a point... but..'_

_"And your acquiration of a job would mean we would be aquiring a second paycheck."_

_'And THAT is a much better one! Damn, without Nabiki around... I had almost forgotten what it was like to hold on to my money for more than a day or two! This'll be great!'_

_"..."_

Ranma scooped the panting Ralts up off the ground and hopped up to a nearby rooftop with it. The casual display of superhuman strength and agility left Rei momentarily speechless, even though she'd vaguely known about it already.

_'First, though, I gotta check on some stuff. Lets see... this button... then that one... then, uh...'_

She fell silent in confusion and blinked.

_'Uh... little help here Rei?'_

The patient girl very nearly let loose a sigh.

xxx

_'Okay, I know most of these. Fire beats grass, which beats water, which in turn beats fire and so on. These two though... they're new to me. Dark and... Steel. Okay, I know already that dark types are, for whatever stupid reason, completely immune to Psychic based attacks. Aside from that... Okay, they're strong against Psychic, obviously, and Ghost types too. That's interesting to know. Weak to Fighting and... Bug types? Huh. Well I was interested in getting ahold of a fighting type anyway, so lets take a look at Steel... Immune to all forms of Poison, that's neat. Really good against Ice and Rock, but they're not that great offensively. Defensively though, wow... except against Fire, Fighting, and Ground types. Still got a lot of resistances, though.'_

_"Perhaps it would be wise to aquire one or both of these typesets?"_

_'Maaaybe. Still not sure yet. But let's get back to Ralts... 15 Percent! Just half an hour ago it was only 13... Whatever, it can only be a good thing. But lets see... evolutionary line... It evolves to Kirlia at 20, still completely a psychic type... and then it has two possible evolutionary trails. This one's simple, just wait for it to hit 30 and it'll become a Garden.. Gardez...'_

_"Gardevoir."_

_'Yeah, that. Then there's the other... it looks a bit more complicated, but not much. Give a Kirlia a Dawn Stone and it'll become a Gallade. Eh? There's a side note... oh. That only works if it's a _male_ Kirlia, huh.'_

Ranma considered, then tapped a couple of buttons. After a moment of waiting, he got the Pokedex's reply.

_'Female. Pity... Gallade is Psychic _and_ Fighting based. I'd have liked to see how that worked.'_

By this point, Ralts had long since caught her breath and was now sitting back on Ranma's shoulder. Every so often she would rub her cheek against the soft red hair, as though fascinated by it.

_"I do not completely understand these 'elements'. If we are somehow incapable of capturing wild Pokemon, would it not be more efficient to simply train the one we have until it needs no backup?"_

_'Aha! That's what I thought too, but Nabiki ended up drilling this into my head! Pokemon all have strengths and weaknesses to the others based on their elemental types. It doesn't matter how strong a Pokemon is, if it faces up to a type its weak against, or if the opposing Pokemon type is immune to all its attacks, its chances of victory will be slashed drastically. Earlier was a fluke... If I hadn't come up with a spur of the moment deviation of a move, or if the Sneasel had dodged, or if it had been strong enough to dig itself out after it was buried, we would probably have lost. Also, if it had managed to hit Ralts with _any_ Dark type attack, it would probably have been a one-hit knockout.'_

_"I see."_

_'It's like why most people don't use a full team of the same type. Dragons, for instance, are really rare and really strong if you raise them right, but if your entire team is made up of Dragons, then a single good Ice type can blast through them all without much trouble. Given that most gyms focus on a single type, it'll help a lot to keep the advantages in mind and try to set up a team that can cover as many bases as possible, but still have each individually strong enough to take on the right gym themselves.'_

_"Ah. So you are not completely devoid of strategy.'_

_'Please. My main attack involves pissing people off and leading them into a spiral. I've been using it for months, on the same people, and I can STILL get them to fall for it. Granted, these aren't the brightest bulbs around, but still. Now then...'_

Ranma tapped a few more buttons and brought up a graph that showed each types weaknesses and strengths in relation to the others.

_'Psychic is covered by Ralts, here, and that gives us an advantage against Fighting and Poison right off the bat. Um... Ice would be a good bet, and that would cover Dragon, Flying, Grass and Ground. Most fully evolved Dragons are Flying type as well, so that's a double bonus. Fire would be good too, that covers Bug, Ice, Steel, and Grass again... That's nine of seventeen with just three. Lemme think... we need to cover Normal, Rock, Ghost, Fire, Water, Electric, Psychic, and Dark... A Dark type would get Psychic and Ghost types... that leaves six with only two slots. A Fighting type would cover Normal, Dark and Rock, with a back-up for Ice and Steel... that just leaves one... Hmm... Ground would cover both Fire and Electric, but leave a big gaping hole towards Water types. Wait... lemme check something... yes! Ralts can learn multiple electric moves, and that right there covers our weakness to water!'_

_"Impressive analysis. But how had you planned to collect these specifict types, with wild Pokemon actively avoiding us?"_

A loud gust of air blew past them.

_'I... I'd completely forgotten about that. That's starting to really shape up to be a problem.'_

_"How is it even possible to forget such a large problem?"_

_'Sh-shut up...'_

xxx

Meanwhile, back in Nerima, Genma was pondering the slip of parchment. It was an easy enough decision, right? All he had to do was remove it from its hiding place, scribble out something about the boy wanting to come home on it, then hide it again, and the boy would be focusing all his attention on coming home without Genma having to do anything else.

So why was he feeling so uneasy?

Shrugging the feeling off, he reached into his travel pack, pressing a catch that moved aside a false bottom and pulled the sheet out. Then his danger sense flared, and he leapt back, sheet in hand, as what appeared to be a beach ball on a stick slammed into the floor where he'd just been standing.

"Amazon! What are you...?"

"Shampoo realize something. If Shampoo take magic paper from Panda-man, can make Airen fall in love with Shampoo!"

Genma pondered this for a brief moment, then leapt out the window. The engagement with Tendo's daughter was the most profitable, in his eyes, and he stood nothing to gain from letting Ranma run off with the Amazon.

"Panda-man not get away so easy! Shampoo _will_ take magic paper from Airen's father!"

In the kitchen, Akane squeezed her chopsticks so hard that they splintered as she watched out the window. Then a red aura manifested, even as her thoughts whirled around this new twist. What could that chinese slut possibly...? Of course. The stat sheet. With that, she could make Ranma do anything she wanted when he returned. Image after image flashed through her mind, each one lewder and more perverted than the last.

"RANMA-NO-HENTAI!" She bellowed, her typical war cry, as her mega-mallet appeared in her hands and she darted after them. Their parents had given Ranma to her. Ranma was HERS and NO ONE elses.

Genma heard the cry and put a little more speed into his run, then came to a complete stop and hurled himself to the side as an umbrella and a multitude of chains struck where he'd have been if he hadn't stopped.

"If I had that sheet-" Ryoga muttered.

"I could eliminate Saotome as a rival forever-" Mousse put in his two cents.

"I could make his life a living hell."

"I could just make him not want to come back."

"I could make him so depressed as to commit suicide."

"AND SHAMPOO/AKANE WILL BE MINE!" They cried as one, renewing their assault.

Genma took a few moments to escape, allowing Akane and Shampoo to catch up and join the boys as they chased him. From there things grew progressively worse for the portly martial artist.

"Hold, varlet! What is this I have heard about a magical parchment that controls the very soul of the Fiery Pigtailed girl? It will be mine, and she shall be free to express her love for me!"

"You shall give me the parchment that binds my Ranma-sama to the trollop, Tendo Akane!"

Genma zipped past them without stopping.

"Do you think you can outrun three thousand years of Amazon tradition, father of my son-in-law?"

He took to the roofs in an effort to escape.

"Woohoo! Genma my boy... give me that paper, and I'll convieniently 'forget' to come pick you up next time it's time for you and Soun to go on a training trip."

Genma almost broke at that, but something within him held firm.

"And what would you do with it?"

"Do with it? Why, what WOULDN'T I do with it my boy! I would mold Ranma to be my perfect heir... and that's just for starters! He'll never interfere with my liberation of silky darlings again!"

The thought of Ranma suddenly becoming a... a... a miniature HAPPOSAI had Genma breaking out in a cold sweat. Combined with the few fatherly instincts remaining and an image of what the dread master would certainly do to his son's female form, and he broke the seal on the Umisenken and faded into invisibility. The Nerima Wrecking crew went mad, thrashing and destroying everything in the area as they searched for him, or alternatively tried to flush him out of hiding.

All thoughts of altering the parchment forgotten, Genma was now searching for a place to hide the damn thing... he hadn't run like this for years, since the time he and Ranma had stolen their food money from some guy who had turned out to be head of a large clan of ninja. He wasn't built for running like this anymore.

And so he headed to the only person in Nerima who would not only be able to arrange to hide the thing properly, but would be too scary for everyone else to try to steal it from.

xxx

"Ten thousand yen."

As the disgruntled old man paid and left her in the cafe with it, Nabiki regarded the parchment solemnly. Granted, it would be a boon to someone like her... but manipulating Ranma had always been easy, and a crutch like this just seemed like too much of a cheating device. Shrugging absently, she crumpled it up and set it into an ash tray and lit one of the complimentary matches and set it aflame, never realizing just how much of a bad idea that could be.

And as the paper burned, the tiny, tightly coiled, yet invisible strings of magic that made it up began to spring away, one by one, returning things to the way they once were, or at least to as close as possible where some things had been irreperably damaged. As she watched the parchment slowly shift to ash indistinguishable from the rest in the tray, she never realized that now, should Ranma return, if he returned, he would be almost unrecognizable from before, save physically.

And somewhere, as a red-haired girl slept on a roof, cuddling a small, but powerful beast, invisible crackles of magic swirled around her. Focused mainly at her head.

xxx

A.N. What have I done now? I dunno... you'll just have to wait and see.

Anyway, now the stat sheet is gone for good, and I doubt there will be much more action shown in Nerima. And kudos to those of you who have pieced together what I'm leading up to. Apologies, also, to the person who suggested evolving Ralts into a Gallade... I've had Gardevoir in mind since the very moment they entered pokemonland. Of course, there are still five slots of seperate elemental types, with the different pokemon I'm considering. Take a look, if you're interested.

The Ice slot-

GLACEON. It's an Eevee evolution, and so it's rare, and I've not got much info on it, but it seems interesting.

SPHEAL, eventually to evolve into Sealeo and Walrein. This one's an Ice/Water type and proved invaluable to me in the game. Definitely a possibility.

LAPRAS. A Water/Ice type that's been around since the beginning of the series of games. This one's pretty rare, like Glaceon is, but aside from a Legendary this is the only other Ice-type that stood out to me. And I don't want them to have Legendaries.

The Fire slot-

VULPIX, which will evolve into Ninetales. The first thing that stood out once I knocked all the Legendaries and starter pokemon off the list. Vulpix stands a good shot right now.

PONYTA, which will evolve into Rapidash. I've liked these things for a while, so it definitely stands a shot.

HOUNDOUR, which will evolve into Houndoom. Technically, this is a Dark type, with only a secondary Fire characteristic, but I just can't pass up the little demon hound. This is the best bet, but I still haven't decided.

The Dark slot-

HOUNDOUR again. Just because it's so nifty. It's entirely possible that I'll decide not to use this little guy at all, but not likely.

MURKROW, which may or may not evolve into Honchkrow. Its secondary Flying type definitely puts it up for consideration.

ABSOL deserves a second look too. Raise these things right and they're useful. Of course, they are slightly difficult to find.

The Fighting slot-

GALLADE. Like I said, the Ralts that they currently have is going to become a Gardevoir. However, there's still the possibility that they might pick up another Ralts, that might become a Gallade eventually. It's not likely, but still a possibility.

MACHOP, eventually to become Machamp. This guy's a good bet, but there's always the chance I'll decide to pass him up for something else.

TYROGUE. Ah, choices. If I go for this one, I'll have to decide its evolutionary path. Will it become Hitmonlee, or Hitmonchan? Not gonna go for Hitmontop, if only because just looking at the thing spinning about on its head makes me feel dizzy and nauseous. Don't like that, tough.

And the Ground slot-

TRAPINCH, to become Vibrava and Flygon later. The addition of the Dragon type upon evolution isn't something to scoff at.

PHANPHY, which will evolve into Donphan. The little elephant looks cute, but once it evolves it can be a real powerhouse.

BALTOY, and the evolved Claydol deserve consideration too. Especially with the secondary type of Psychic. As long as you have extra attacks to help you deal with the Dark types before they can finish you off, Psychics are still, in my opinion, the best type out there.

I'm not asking for votes here, just putting the possibilities out there. I could use any or none of these, depending on how I decide to write it.


	6. Chapter 6

Wanderer

xxx

Things whirling, things changing. Chaotically whispered thoughts, streaming through a sleeping girls mind. Weapons were crutches, for the weak. Honor above all. To lose in battle is the greatest shame. Girls were weak, fit only to be protected by the stronger males.

Why?

The girl had seen, time and again, that while fighting unarmed lent the fighter a good deal more versatility, they could still be 'disarmed' just as easily as any weapon-user. Case in point, all of the street fights where Genma had turned sneaky, and broken an opponent's arm to win.

Honor above all. But was blind obedience to a concept truly honor? Honor had demanded that she wed all three, yet honor demanded that she marry only one. Honor had left seppuku as the only viable option, yet she had never chosen that path. Why, if honor truly meant so much? Honor was a pleasant concept, but there were times when it had to be guarded with secret, dishonorable actions. That was a truth of life.

Is losing in battle truly the greatest shame imaginable? The girl could easily think of two, three... even a dozen more things more shameful than loss. Sometimes losing a battle teaches a lesson that you would otherwise have never learned. Granted, losing was never pleasant, but there was always the chance for an eventual rematch. It was not neccessary to be the best at everything, all the time. Sometimes the wise path was to bow out, and gracefully take the second place.

Were girls weak? That had been disproven time and time again. Girls had the potential to become strong, just like men. Over time, Ranma had learned to keep quiet about this opinion, but until now it had never changed. And what of herself? For now, and for the forseeable future, she was in a female body. Did that make her weak? No. No, she was still strong. Rei was strong as well, but in a different way. She was obviously not a fighter, but Ranma could feel her power simmering within them at all times.

That brought up a question to her sleeping mind. If she could feel Rei's power at all times, even when her body was the dominant one, and if, as she suspected, her enormous ki reserves could be sensed even when Rei was the dominant, then were the wild pokemon fleeing her, or Rei?

Her eyes opened to the starry sky as what felt like a bolt of lightning shot through her brain.

xxx

_"Saotome. I have business I must attend to. You may sleep more once you have relenquished our body to me."_

_'... Fine. Too tired to argue.'_

A few minutes and a body switch later, Rei was tapping at buttons on the pokedex as Ranma returned to snoring in the back of their head. A couple more taps and she had it.

'The myth of creation, Man and Pokemon.'

_Access granted to Field Researcher Ayanami Rei._

The machine buzzed for a moment before the folder opened, and Rei began reading it.

_Preface written by Professor Oak._

_For a very long time, it has been believed that the world was crafted by certain of the Legendary Pokemon, who expended most of their power in the effort and hid themselves away. Recent sightings put them somewhere in the Sinnoh region._

_However, the recent discovery of this myth carved into the walls of an ancient ruin seems to both disprove and outright contradict this theory._

_As a scientist, I have long studied the question, 'where are we going?'... but as a human being, I cannot deny that the question 'where did we come from?' has its appeals as well. Perhaps we shall never learn the answers to either of these questions, especially as this myth is so vague. It could well be that the 'First' and 'Second' are some form of prehistoric, yet undiscovered Legendary Pokemon. Or it could be that they represent something else entirely. We may never know for sure._

Rei absorbed this and tapped the button to continue to the actual myth, eyes narrowing imperceptibly.

_The Myth of creation._

_In the beginning, there were the First and Second (There was evidence of old damage to the wall here, obscuring several words.) and the First fought with the Second, and for many moons and passes of the seasons they did battle over which would claim the world for themselves and their progeny._

_But with time, both grew weary of the seemingly endless battle, as both were evenly matched. Then the Second spoke to the First, and it said "Lo, but is not our battle over the land itself? Should we continue, we shall ruin the land, and our battle shall then be meaningless. Would it not then be wise to cease, then, and share this world between us and our progeny?"_

_And the First considered the Second's words, and saw the wisdom therein, and did agree to the Second's plan._

_And so the First removed a portion of itself, and crafted its children in many forms, and they took to the sea, and the sky, and the land in abundance, and became populous, and encircled the world, each to its own preferred place. And the First smiled and turned to the Second, inviting it to take its turn._

_And the Second considered for many turnings of the sun and moon. Then it removed a portion of itself, and crafted its children in two forms alone, male and female, and they were weak and fearful, and could not take to the sea or the sky, but could only live on the land. And the First showed his amusement towards the children of the Second, saying "Lo, should ye not have considered more fully before crafting thy children? These weak beings shall all have died out within three generations, and my children alone shall walk the lands."_

_And the Second turned, and said "Perhaps. But I have given my children a gift that ye have neglected to give yours. We shall yet see what happens three generations hence._

_And so the First and Second withdrew from the lands for a time and left their children. And when they returned, the children of the Second had grown in number, and had convinced many of the children of the First to protect them as they multiplied and built comfortable dwellings for themselves and their protectors. For the Second had given its children the gifts of intelligence and logic and reason, and so they swiftly became dominant over the children of the First. And the First gnashed its teeth and howled mightily, but could not deny that this was due to its own oversight._

_And the children of the First were Pokemon. And the children of the Second, Humans._

Rei leaned back into the wall as she considered that, one hand idly going back to stroking the Ralts' horn. It shivered in its sleep at the contact.

First and Second... that was just a little too familiar for her comfort. After all, in her world, the Angels were the children of the First Angel, Adam, and humans were technically the 'children' of the Second Angel, Lilith.

Her suspicion confirmed, she began to wonder if there was some possible way to cause Third Impact here. Just for practice. Then she shoved the thought away. If Adam and Lilith had agreed to share this world instead of bickering over it, then there would have been no reason for a third Impact.

She noted that there was a link at the bottom of the page and pressed it. Though she couldn't help but wonder how it was related in any way.

_A report on 'Shiny' Pokemon._

_It is a well documented fact that every so often a trainer will come across a Pokemon of an alternate color scheme from the norm. It is very rare, but it has been proven that for every eight thousand or so eggs laid by a specific species, one will be of an alternate color scheme and have a natural form of 'glitter' in its fur/scales/feathers etc. However, given the rarity of these 'Shiny' Pokemon, and the fact that many eggs laid in the wild will end up as a meal for predatory Pokemon, the actual chances of finding a Shiny Pokemon in the wild is these days closer to something like one in twenty thousand._

_Through a great deal of personal effort, I have conducted a study of these 'Shiny' Pokemon, but have been incapable of finding any genetic reason for the shift in color scheme, or for why it is sometimes barely noticeable, while others it is impossible to miss. The best example of this is the Magikarp, whose shiny form is a pure, lustrous gold, and upon evolution becomes a crimson Gyarados._

_That begs the question, if there is no true difference between any generic Pokemon and its 'Shiny' counterpart, then why do Pokemon of alternate color schemes exist at all?_

_Addendum: While, as previously stated, there seems to be no true difference between any Pokemon and its 'Shiny' counterpart, it has recently been discovered that Shiny pokemon are more versatile in that they can learn a wider variety of moves than any normal Pokemon. Further study into this is pending._

_Addendum the second: An old hermit with a Shiny Dragonair was discovered living in a hut in the same ruins where a controversial myth was discovered to be carved into a wall. (Link here to 'The Myth of Creation, Man and Pokemon') Upon conversation concerning his Dragonair, he stated that 'The gifts of the First flow more strongly through this one.' The next day, in an attempt to glean more knowledge from the curious old man, I and three of my aides returned to the hut. The man was dead, apparently having passed on in his sleep, and there was no sign of his Dragonair anywhere._

_End of report._

Rei stared at the screen for a moment longer, then tapped at a few buttons, sending the Pokedex back into a low power state and resetting it to the default encyclopedia. She was tired.

And the sun was rising, directly in front of her. She frowned in slight irritation and focused.

_"BWAGEA! I'm up, I'm up! Waddya want?"_

Rei tapped a button on the Pokedex before sliding it back into her pocket. She had considered the possibility of their I.D. being checked while Ranma was in control, and had taken measures.

_'The Pokedex is now temporarily registered to you. I am relenquishing control of our body, and suggest that sometime today you visit that training facility.'_

A splash of water later and Rei was replaced with the grumpling redhead. Inside their head, she closed her mental eyes. This was nice. Unlike outside, where the stupid sun would still aggravate her eyes as she tried to slept, in here she could easily obtain blissful darkness. She was asleep in seconds.

Ranma, however, was not pleased. She'd been in the middle of a dream where the entire Nerima Wrecking Crew, save her, had been turned into zombies. It had been awesome. She'd not been able to touch them, for fear of infecting herself with skin to skin contact, but she had been equipped with a really big sword and a shotgun. She'd just been about to blow zombie-Genma's head off when the electric pain had coursed through her brain.

She didn't know how Rei had learned to do that, but it was becoming most annoying. So... now she had a choice. She could stay here and nap and risk getting her brain fried when Rei woke up and realized that she hadn't done anything in the interval. Or she could go and do something. Possibly train Ralts. She paused and thought about that for a moment. After a couple of evolutions, Ralts would be about her height, give or take a few inches, and reasonably human-shaped, so why not? She was a psychic type, so who would expect her to suddenly give something a good kick to the head?

Well... maybe not that far. Psychics were supposed to be pretty frail, physically. So until Ranma got her toughened up, she'd have to be sticking to the softer arts, like Tai Chi, or Aikido. At least until she could find a couple of good sized boulders.

In its sleep, Ralts broke out into a cold sweat.

Ranma considered the idea a second time, then discarded it. No need for breaking point training... as far as she understood the 'Effort Values' thing Nabiki tried to explain to her a few times, if she wanted to increase Ralts' defense, she would have to fight things with high defense ratings. The same went for all the other stats as well. It might seem odd for her to offer so much knowledge about something without compensation, but ask even the tiniest question about her favorite game and it was like you were throwing a switch in her head. The girl simply could not shut up about it, and you could not get away. Before that day, Ranma had been completely unaware that Nabiki could roof-hop.

Actually, she wasn't sure _Nabiki_ had known she was roofhopping... she was just keeping pace with him while nattering on and on about her favorite subject. After that, Ranma had been careful not to bring up anything even _remotely_ close to the subject.

She hopped off the building and headed off towards the edge of the city. She'd find a small, private clearing to teach... actually it would probably be faster just to let it suck the neccessary info out of her head and then correct it if it did something wrong.

She began focusing everything she knew about the softer styles into the forefront of her mind. Given just how much she knew, that took a little effort.

xxx

To Ralts, it was like a dance. An elegant dance of destruction, as proven by the red facet when she only tapped a finger against a thick tree, yet still left a deep impact mark.

They had started slow, the red facet putting what it had wanted Ralts to take in the forefront of its mind, then watching as it fumbled through the first kata. Red had sighed and then stepped forward to perform the kata herself, slowly, but with an incredible inner grace that Ralts couldn't help but envy. Ralts movet to match Red's motions, and after a few tries, Ralts had matched her move for move.

Then the next time through was a little faster, and Ralts had to work at it a little harder before she matched Red's speed. Then the tempo increased again, and she had to push harder just to keep up, grace having flown out the window. Red held that speed for about an hour, until Ralts was somewhat competent at it. Granted, she was slicked down with a sheen of foamy sweat, and while she matched the speed Red was showing she had all the gracefullness of a drunken water buffalo, but she could feel her overall speed rising. After another few minutes, Red slid to a complete stop, not even breathing heavily.

Ralts collapsed on the ground, panting heavily, as the adrenaline rush gave way to aching muscles and exhaustion. Red grunted as her eyes flicked to the sorry mess Ralts was in. Then she bent down and picked her up.

"Not too shabby. Still need a bunch of work, but you're doing well. Let's get you cleaned up."

And somehow, that one bit of halfhearted praise made it all worth it.

After wiping down the little monster with a damp rag, Ranma considered what to do next while it curled up in his lap. One hand snaked down automatically to rub at its horns, sending its leg into unnoticed spasms. Now then... go take a look at that training facility place, or pass them by completely and head through Viridian forest to Pewter city.

On the one hand, passing team Rocket by might finish whatever had to be done here faster. On the other, once Rei found out that she had skipped meeting with the rockets, she would probably pump a few thousand volts of electricity through their brain. Tough call.

"Alright, Rockets it is."

xxx

She was already regretting this decision. This place... it didn't seem to be used so much for training so much as for trainers to stand around and eat the free snacks while placing bets on who would win in the off chance that a Pokemon battle got started.

There was a raised box near the arena, with one way windows on the outside. At a glance, that was where Giovanni would be. The two big, hulking men in cheap suits confirmed that suspicion. Now, to get in, she would have to challenge a few people to Pokemon battles and put up a good showing.

Or she could just do this.

She walked casually up to the two guards, who looked confused at first, then frowned dumbly as she came to a stop between them.

"Hey, little girl, maybe you should just run along now..."

Both her hands flashed out in a blur, striking points that induced sleep and paralysis and locked up the bones in their legs. In effect, they fell asleep standing up. Then one hand went to the doorknob. Naturally, it was locked. She kept turning it.

After a moment, brute force won out and there was a tiny noise of the metal in the lock giving way as she swung the door open and stepped inside. None of the trainers outside noticed the sound or cared that she was entering the restricted area... after all, if she wasn't supposed to be there, then the guards would have stopped her, right?

Inside the box, it was dark. The only lighting came from two sources... the tinted windows and a couple computer monitors. She could see that someone was sitting in what looked like a very comfortable, reclining leather chair, although she couldn't make out any features just yet. Then the man spoke up, in a deep, raspy voice.

"You know, conventionally, a trainer would be out there, displaying the abilities of their Pokemon before I decide whether or not to invite them up here."

Ranma shrugged, but not enough to dislodge Ralts.

"I've never been conventional. And I'm really more of a 'Hands-on' person. Why leave Pokemon all the fun bits?"

"He... Hahaha. I like you. You have spunk. Catch."

He flipped something through the darkness towards her. Cursing the dim light, she managed to snag it out of the air by the tips of her fingers. Judging by the feel, it was metal... a pin... and in the shape of a capital 'R'. Of course.

"Show that to the guard at the breeding center and he'll let you through. Then ask for Jin, he'll give you the whole tour and explain things to you. Now get going, I have business to attend to."

Ranma shrugged and flipped the pin up her sleeve as she turned and left. This had been a total waste of time. She paused outside the training facility to consider the pin. No. Total waste of time, dammit.

Crap.

She sighed and started hunting for someone who knew where to find this 'Breeding center'.

xxx

"Move along little girl... you need special permission to enter here. Not just any run of the mill..."

Ranma sighed and flipped her wrist in such a way that the small pin dropped into her palm. Upon seeing it, the guard's entire demeanor changed from hostile to some sad, pathetic excuse for pleasantness.

"My apologies young miss... do come in, please. We simply hadn't recieved word yet, you know how it goes."

"Where is Jin."

"Jin... Jin, Jin, uh... right about now he's probably overlooking the hatcheries. I'll take you there. Frank! Get your fat butt out here and take a turn at the door, already!"

The second guard grunted and grudgingly got up and turned off his small television as he waddled out, stains of beer and some sort of sauce dripped down the front of his uniform. Ranma frowned with disgust as she followed the first guard inside. She hated coming near to people who reminded her of Genma.

The building was, frankly, huge. Half a dozen football fields could have fit within easily, but it only took a moment for them to track down Jin in a room full of eggs.

"Hey, geezer! The boss sent another one."

Jin slowly turned around, revealing himself to be a very old man in a lab coat and bandages taped over his left eye.

"Hmm... so I see. You can go."

The guard nodded and left, visibly relieved at the dismissal.

"As for you lass, I'll be back in a moment. Touch nothing."

Ranma began sweating as the old man left. Keeping her hands to herself... it wouldn't be so much of a problem for her as it would for her old man, but she'd been trained from a very young age to have a 'Want, Take, Have." kind of personality. If there was something she needed, the easiest way to get it was with a five finger discount, right? At this point, what she needed most was extra pokemon. The urge to snatch a few eggs was nearly overwhelming.

The fact that she had no idea what would hatch from which egg was all that was holding her back, really. It would suck if she burnt bridges so soon and all she had to show for it was a handful of Magikarp or something.

After a few minutes passed she grew steadily more irritated until the old man came back and immediately swept his eyes accross the racks of eggs and nodded to himself. Oh. It was some sort of test then.

Ranma wondered absently if she'd passed.

"Well now lass... what can I do for you?"

Without a word, Ranma flashed the pin again and Jin nodded.

"I see... you'll be wanting the tour before making a final decision then, I'd expect? Well, my old bones aint up to a walking around the entire facility all at once, but I got a map around here somewhere... just give me a second... ah, here it is. Now we are here... go on, take a look... In the hatchery. In the breeding center, two of every type of eggs are kept here and can be requisitioned by operatives who've done enough jobs for us, while the rest are sent to the main incubation chambers, which are miles away. Once those start hatching, they are placed in the wild to help aid in raising the levels of some dwindling species of Pokemon. Since the founding of this breeding center, the wild Eeevee population, for instance, has risen a full twenty three percent, and there are a full six new breeds of Pokemon flourishing in the Kanto region that had never managed to make an ecological niche for themselves before."

"That's... fascinating." Ranma drolly replied.

"Isn't it though? Now this area here is the actual breeding area, where we place the Pokemon that have gone into heat. Naturally, after the first few accidents involving randy monsters and busty interns we've labeled the area as off limits. Even when one of the staff has to go in, they don't dare enter without the special suits dipped in chemicals that smell horrible enough to kill the interest of even the most amorous Muk."

Ranma blinked, not sure what to make of that.

"You don't need to worry about most of the rest of these... they're where the scientists do sciency crap and the like. And over here is the corrals where the pokemon live when they're not in heat... Oh, and here's the transportation chamber. It links up to a chamber in Saffron, one in the Johto region, one in the Hoenn region... can't remember which city just offhand. One in the Orre region and one just outside Snowpoint city in the Sinnoh region. Granted, we don't have much business outside the Johto and Kanto regions, but Giovanni felt it neccessary to establish the other small footholds as well."

"I... really don't care. I just want to do my job and get paid. Maybe collect some Gym badges on the side."

Jin snorted.

"Gym badges? You? You must be joking. These days only the elite of the elite run gyms... far better than how things used to be. You know Pewter city up north used to have a gym? But the leader, Brock, was pathetic. He would only use a weak Geodude and Onix in the gym battles, never mind that neither was above fifteen percent. Any old punk with nothing but their starter could beat him!"

Ranma coughed sheepishly. This... could be a serious problem.

"No. These days there's four gyms still open here in Kanto. The gym here in Viridian, the Dojo in Saffron, that one run by Ninja in Fuschia, and the gym in Cerulean. But to challenge the Elite Four, you still have to qualify by having eight gym badges, so you'll have to travel to at _least_ one other region."

Ranma groaned.

"That... really sucks."

"Yes. As such, most trainers responded by not battling at gyms anymore, and so the gyms responded by becoming even more elitist and their members became more powerful... vicious circle, lass. And there's a lot of distance between the regions, so unless you can afford tickets to those fancy cruise vessels, or you have access to transportation chambers like ours, you're shit out of luck, kid."

"... Well fuck."

Jin smacked a ruler right into her forehead.

"Language, lass! You're an operative of Team Rocket now!"

"Great... just great... so how many jobs do I have to do to requisition an egg."

"Actually... you can select one right now."

xxx

A.N.

Can't think of anything to say. Nothing at all. Hm...


	7. Chapter 7

And now, for the final listing of the party Pokemon.

For the Ice slot... GLACEON!

For the Fire slot... PONYTA!

For the Dark slot... HOUNDOUR!

For the Fighting slot... MACHOP!

And, for the Ground slot... GIBLE!... yes, I know it wasn't in the list of choices. Get over it.

xxx

Wanderer

xxx

Ranma looked down at the egg in her lap and sighed, thinking of how she had obtained it.

_Flashback._

_"So wait... I can pick out any one of these eggs, right now?"_

_"Well... partially true." Jin answered, as he selected an egg at what seemed to be random and set it in front of the redhead. "You can have any egg you want, as long as it's this one."_

_End Flashback._

The egg itself was actually a pretty good selection, though. It was an Eevee, and such could fit into one of many of the typesets she'd chosen once it evolved. She'd checked the dex, just to brush up on which possibilities she had, and had been astounded at the sheer amount.

Three she knew of, Vaporeon, Flareon, and Jolteon, who evolved upon exposure to a water, fire, or thunder stone respectively. After that, things got a little more difficult.

There were two who Eevee could only become once it was 'Happy' enough, though some suspected that the key factor wasn't happiness at all, but something more difficult to describe. It would become a psychic Espeon if this happened during the day, and a Dark type Umbreon if it happened at night.

Then there were another two that evolved when near a specific stone, but also had to level up in order to trigger the evolution. Glaceon and Leafeon, Ice and Grass type respectively.

Then there were even more esoteric types, as apparently Eevee could evolve into something for every listed type. Draceon, for instance, was a dragon type eevolution. However, in order to get it, the trainer would have to find _both_ a dragon fang and a dragon scale, then personally craft them into an amulet, and the Eevee would have to wear it for no less than thirty level gains from the point it put it on in order to evolve into the lauded Draceon. If the trainer had someone else make the amulet, it wouldn't work, and if the Eevee took it off at any point, the whole thing would have to start all over from the very beginning. The other evolutions were similarly difficult to obtain.

Ranma had decided that was entirely too much work, and so had chosen to go with Glaceon instead, and was on her way to Snowpoint city. For two reasons... first, there was an agent there that she had to deliver something to. She wasn't sure what it was, because it was in a locked briefcase, but the agent was apparently studying a huge statue of what might be a pokemon. Second, the frozen boulder that was supposed to trigger the Glaceon evolution was just southwest of the city limits.

Ranma blinked as, inside her head, there were sounds like someone falling a foot or two to the floor. Then a door opening and closing, footsteps, and another door opening and closing. Then silence. Then after a couple minutes, she sweatdropped as there was an audible flushing noise.

_'Do I really want to know what you're doing in there, Rei?'_

_"Mhrfluh? Wha? Oh."_

_'I'm going to pretend I didn't hear anything in the last few minutes, all right?'_

Akwardness ensued.

_'So, uh...'_

_"..."_

_'Yeah.'_

_"Where are we?"_

_'Ah. Right now... I'm not sure. This thing doesn't have windows. In about an hour, though, we'll be in Sinnoh region's Snowpoint city.'_

Rei remained silent and Ranma sighed as she began explaining everything that had happened while she was asleep.

xxx

"Yes! We got a Caterpie! Go Eevee! Go me!"

Celia continued cheering, getting all the loud out of her system before they entered the Viridian Forest proper, where anything too loud would attract hordes of angry Beedrill.

So far, she was doing very well as a trainer. She'd caught a few wild Pokemon, kicked the ass of a few trainers, and had traveled a good distance on her own. Nobody she used Eevee against had even a chance of winning. Well... except... there was her. The first person she'd matched up against, the blue haired, incredibly lucky tamer.

"I wonder how Wondergirl's doing anyway?"

xxx

Rei sneezed.

_"..."_

_"...?"_

_'... right. So what happened then, Rei?'_

_"As I was saying, commander Ikari ordered that every remaining N2 mine in Japan be dropped within the angel."_

_'Wait... with his son still inside?'_

_"The orders were to wait until his life support would have run out, giving him a window to escape, then drop the mines in if he didn't."_

_'Wow. That's harsh. He could give my old man a run for his money in the 'worst parent of the year' awards. Seriously though, not one person tried to rescue the kid?'_

_"Rescuing pilot Ikari would have been classified as a suicide mission. My orders to protect him had already been privately rescinded, and frankly I did not like him that much. And as he escaped on his own, the matter is moot."_

_'How much time did he have left?'_

_"Approximately three and one quarter seconds."_

_'... Thats harsh, y'know, R...'_

_"...?"_

_'It's hatching.'_

Their eyes dropped to the egg in their lap, a deep crack running down the side. The sight was almost hypnotizing to watch as it bulged out slightly and a tiny claw poked out, followed by a slightly strangled mewling noise. The crack bulged out again and a small chip of egg fell off. Then a larger one did, as more cracks spiderwebbed outwards.

Ralts hopped down from her resting place and began helping the creature escape its egg, peeling back the shell to let the desperate infant crawl through. Like all newborns, it wasn't exactly the prettiest thing in the world.

The Eevee's fur was wet with the fluids within the egg, matted directly to its skin and giving it all the appeal of your average drowned rat. Its eyes were closed and it was shivering from the cold breeze of the transporter's air conditioning. Ralts shoved the rest of the egg out of the way and to the floor and began running its tiny hands through the fur. The thick, gelatinous liquid was quickly brushed away, leaving the Eevee's fur relatively dry as it opened its eyes.

Just one clincher.

The fur, normally a muddy brown, was much softer and paler than it was supposed to be. More like an equal amount of white sand and normal dirt had been blended together, really. It had a pale glimmer to it, sparkling slightly whenever it moved. And the Eevee's eyes, rather than they typical black, were a pale, watery blue.

_'Well that's interesting. I wonder what happened?'_

_"It is Shiny."_

_'That's not a familiar term to me... and the way you pronounce it makes me think it's important.'_

_"From what I have read, every Pokemon has a one in approximately eight thousand chance of being born with an alternate color scheme, as a Shiny Pokemon. There is no real difference between them and others except the visual, and that they can learn a greater array of techniques."_

_'That's nice. But what I was wondering about was why it decided to hatch now, when Jin said it would be another week at least before it did.'_

_"...I... do not know."_

Ranma shrugged and began stroking the newborn Eevee behind the ear, an affection that it only took a moment to decide it really enjoyed. Ralts teleported back to its perch on their shoulder.

_'Coincidence. This is a good thing, though... it means we don't have to waste too much time just sitting around in this backwater town and running odd jobs for the higher ups. We can just evolve Eevee, deliver the suitcase, then get the hell back to Kanto. At least I know something about that place, and I know something about Team Rocket, however outdated. I don't want to leave that until neccessary, and everyplace other than Johto has its official 'Team' of bad guys I've never heard of. Team Magma, Team Aqua, and Team Zephyr? They're apparently constantly bickering over who's top dog in the Hoenn area. Around here is Team Galactic, and all they would tell me about them was that they wanted to recreate the world in their own image. Team Snagem and the Cypher syndicate each run their respective chunks of the Orre area. Even if Team Rocket is relatively reformed, these other guys AREN'T, and I want to stay the hell out of their way for as long as possible.'_

_"That seems to be reasonable. However, you should consider that, as we work for Team Rocket, we may eventually be assigned a mission that brings us into close contact with these other Teams. For instance, Team Rocket has a very close working relationship with Team Snagem."_

_'... SHIT! I hadn't even thought about that...'_

The sphere they were traveling in began vibrating at a high frequency. A signal that they were coming into real space at the end of the long-range teleportation, something like the way a pilot would suggest that passengers of an airplane fasten their seat belts before the plane began to lower altitude for a landing. Ranma was uncertain of the specifics of this form of travel, but had noted that it required four Kadabra to 'launch' the sphere towards its destination, and probably at least as many to 'catch' it at the end.

The sphere stopped vibrating, and then there was a crunching sort of noise as it set down in the landing pad.

She stood and considered sending Eevee into its designated Pokeball. Nah. It was small enough not to draw any real attention to them, and maybe it would grow faster outside the ball, like Ralts seemed to. Right now it was... she checked the dex. One percent. No, two now, her mistake. And Ralts was all the way up to nineteen. So it looked like there would be two evolutions sometime today. Neat.

The door hissed as it slid open and she stepped through.

"Ah... you've finally arrived, Grunt Ranma."

Ranma frowned. She really hated being called that... but until she was promoted to a higher level, she was stuck with it.

"Please, come with me. We need to close down the transporter room so it can be prepped for its next use. Our hold in this region is rather limited, so the facilities are rather basic, but I'm sure you won't be staying here long anyway. The only person who stays here apart from me is Associate Kaz. I see you have a delivery for him. One moment..."

The talkative girl left for a moment, then came back with a big, heavy coat.

"If you aren't used to the sort of temperatures we get in Snowpoint, then-"

"I'll be fine. Where's the temple?"

"Are you sure? It's really, really cold..."

"I said I'd be fine."

"... Alright, Grunt Ranma. It's your skin. Your frostbitten, agonizingly numb skin. The temple's outside, you can't miss it."

Ranma grunted and left with the case, effect ruined as Ralts and Eevee began snoring softly from their positions on her right shoulder and in the crook of her left arm. She opened the door and stepped out, only to realize that the girl hadn't been overexaggerating the cold. It felt like her blood was going to freeze in the veins if she held still for too long.

It was refreshing, actually. She hadn't been this cold since Genma decided it would be a good idea to make a trek through Siberia and they'd been caught in a blizzard. All they'd been wearing was rags. They'd had to find a cave and share their body heat to survive. It had been the most horrifying experience of the young Ranma's life.

She focused on her Ki reserves as she walked, focusing on spinning and whirling them madly within her body, something like a reversed 'Soul of Ice'. A Soul of Flame instead. It worked perfectly, and she could feel herself warming up. And here was the Temple.

"Hey!" Hey... ey... y... "Anybody in here?" in here... here... ere...

Nice echo. Ranma contemplated yodeling for a moment.

"Just a minute. I'm back here. What do you want?"

Ranma paced into the large room, glanced around and headed for the giant statue. There was a guy poking around near its feet with something. That would probably be Kaz. Nothing really remarkable about him... except his hair. A four inch high mohawk that turned into a long ponytail at the end. Dyed neon green.

Ranma ignored it as she held out the suitcase.

"Special delivery for Associate Kaz."

"Oh. That's what you're here for then. Put it on the table and I'll get it later. I'm busy now."

A vein popped out of Ranma's forehead at how rude this bastard was, but she set the case down before opening her mouth for a witty retaliation.

_**KRACKOOM!**_

But was interrupted by an explosion from outside. Kaz darted up and dashed for the door, frowning, and possibly worried that the ancient temple could collapse. Ranma followed somewhat slower. When she reached the exit, it wasn't just Kaz outside and staring into the air with fascination. Every person in town, it seemed, had left their houses to watch, and when she looked up she saw why.

She could only recognize one of the battling figures, but it was one that she knew well. Nobody really forgot a flying minotaur with tentacles, after all. The other...

"That's Lugia, one of Johto's legendary birds..." Kaz whispered in awe. "But what is it fighting?"

Taro was at a disadvantage in the fight, as while Lugia had no qualms with firing multicolored beams and blasts of compressed air at him, he was restricted to all he could do with his body. Granted, he could probably give superman a hard time in a wrestling match, but if he couldn't get close enough to land a hit, then what did it matter. But then he got sneaky.

On the next pass, instead of attempting to get close and attack, Taro thrust his fingers out and let loose a focused blast of ink, directly into Lugia's eyes. It screeched at its sudden blindness and Taro moved in for the finisher. But at the last possible second, Lugia cleared the vision in one eye and let loose an Aeroblast at point blank range. It would have been impossible to miss, and Taro went flying away, impacting in the ground somewhere outside of town. Lugia turned and flapped unsteadily away, victorious.

The people began muttering something about forming a search party to go see if that monstrous Pokemon was still around, and if so, to attempt to capture it so that it could be studied in depth by a qualified professor. Ranma was already halfway to the city gates.

xxx

Taro groaned as he dug himself out of the pile of dirt and snow, ears ringing. Odd... he could almost make out something like someone yelling. He rubbed at his ears to get them working again.

"... -tyhose Bastard! Where are you, Pantyhose Bastard! I know you're out here somewhere, you fishnet wearing freak!"

A huge vein extended from Taro's forehead.

_"Saotome... are you quite sure that this is the best way to go about locating your... friend?"_

_'Oh yeah, sure. He'll be here any minute...'_

Ranma blinked and seemed to slide to the side as an enormous fist slammed into the patch of snow she'd just been standing on.

_'Y'see? Here he is now.'_

_"Attempting to do us grievous bodily harm."_

_'Well, yeah, but you know how it is. Can't make an omelet without cracking a few skulls and all that.'_

_"I believe the word you were looking for was eggs."_

_'You've never tried to cook an omelet in Nerima, have you.'_

Taro bellowed his rage and pressed the attack as Ralts wisely teleported itself and Eevee to a nearby tree branch. Then the fight began in earnest, with the two pokemon as avid spectators.

It was actually fascinating for them to watch... the monster that was not of their brethren was huge, fast and powerful, but the red facet of the mistress was simply too swift to hit. Within a minute there was a large circle where the loose snow had been packed down into the dirt from the strikes of fist, hoof and tentacle. It was incredible. No matter what the monster did to attack, the red facet was simply _not there_ when the blow struck. Then she decided to finish it, leaping onto its head and using it as a springboard directly into the air while she pulled out a... copper kettle?

"Strike of the boiling rain!" she cried, as her hand turned blue and she used it to spike the kettle. The metal shattered and the hot water inside hissed as it spread out and fell. Taro bellowed in horror as the steaming liquid splattered against him, his monstrous body melting down into his true form. Somehow, his clothes appeared in the process.

"How'd you like that, Pantyhose freak?"

"Nn... stupid faggot."

They glared at each other for a moment. Then tiny smirks cracked through their angry faces, followed by a snicker or two, then full blown laughter.

"Damn... It's been a while Taro. How the hell did you end up here?"

"Don't know. Dunno where 'Here' is either. Last thing I remember was back in Nerima, barging into the old freaks room. Then everything went black and I found myself falling through the air without any cold water handy. Landed in the lab of some guy named 'Willow' of all things. Of course he didn't introduce himself immediately... probably had something to do with how I busted a cold water pipe on the way down. He passed out when he saw the transformation."

"OH. That sucks. Well at least you still have both your forms."

"... You're locked, then?"

"Not quite... I'm just kinda sharing space with a girl right now."

"How's that work?"

"I'm... not really sure myself. Basically, it's hot water for her and cold water for me."

Taro whistled in sympathy.

"Sucks to be you. Anyway, once the Willow guy woke up and got a decent explanation of where I came from and the curse, he suggested hunting down some Legendary pokethings. Said that one of them might be able to put me back."

Ranma grunted.

"Well, I guess it's as likely as anything else. My original plan seems like it's probably going to be a bust, so..."

She blinked as Taro raised a finger to point over her shoulder.

"Your animal thingies are glowing."

She turned just in time to catch the tail end of the evolution process as Ralts doubled in height as a Kirlia and Eevee became Glaceon. Her eyes trailed beneath the tree, to where a large, ice covered boulder stood. How the hell had she missed that?

"Well... that was interesting." Taro said hesitantly. "But I really gotta scram. It took me hours to hunt that thing down the first time, and that was when I had some idea where it was. Now I'm gonna have to spend a long time hunting down another of those legendary thingies."

"Yeah... good luck with that."

Taro wandered off as Ranma turned back to her newly evolved Pokemon.

"Now then... let's see what you can do."

xxx

Ranma was mildly impressed. Rei had noted that and then bowed out of further assistance with the training, as battle seemed to be more Ranma's forte. She needed to arrange and edit her daily report.

Kirlia's psychic abilities had improved dramatically upon evolution. Her telekinesis could lift two and a half times the amound she could as a Ralts, and she'd picked up the Psychic attack somewhere. Far more powerful than a simple Confusion attack. Also, either her control had slipped, or she had become more able at entering minds. Where before, Ranma had just had to focus on what she wanted and hope that Ralts was listening at the time, now she could feel when Kirlia entered her mind... it was a strange sensation. Not unpleasant, simply strange... as though a silk cloth had been dipped in cool water and was running across her brain. In a few minutes, she would set her on Kata to see if she'd improved any, but there was something else first.

Glaceon was still relatively weak. She, Ranma had checked with the Pokedex as she felt uncomfortable calling any living being that she would see often an 'it', had gained an Aurora beam attack, but that was about it from the evolution. That, Tackle, Growl, and Leer were her extent of abilities. Ranma hated to call Genma useful in any fashion, but there were times where it seemed that his oceans of stupidity evaporated to reveal a seabed of genius beneath. Case in point, the Umi- and Yama-sen-ken.

And later, when he realized that Pandas were not meant to stand on their hind legs for long, and had taken off into the mountains for an entire week to figure out a way to fight in his cursed form without damaging his spine. After all, injuries inflicted passed between forms. When he'd returned, he'd developed the Shiashi style of combat, requiring the user to be on all fours. And then his stupidity had returned all in an instant as he demanded that Ranma train in this style as well. Completely forgetting that he would have all sorts of problems with it because he was not meant to walk on four legs. The Neko-ken didn't count.

However, it seemed that the Shiashi style would finally see some use. She made her mental request, and Glaceon's head jerked up as Kirlia connected their minds.

_'If you can hear me, nod.'_

Glaceon nodded once, slowly.

_'Alright. Now, do as I do.'_

Ranma dropped down to all fours and the kata began. Kirlia withdrew partially from their minds as she recieved her own instructions, and began to go through her own soft kata.

It was many hours later, near sunset, that the brutal training finally came to a close and they began to trudge back through the snowdrifts to Snowpoint.

xxx

"You were out for a while."

Ranma grunted at the thinly veiled interrogation as she sipped at a cup of hot chocolate. It was thick... very thick. If she had to guess, then she'd say that it was actually a whole lot of molten chocolate mixed with a little milk. It was wonderfully good.

As things turned out, the nosy girl was named Carol and was actually Kaz's little sister. And she seemed incapable of shutting the hell up. Not that she would actually come right out and tell her to anyway... that would be a poor action from a guest.

She just had to deal with it until she left tomorrow. First thing tomorrow. No, wait... she would have to wait for Carol to get up so that she could order the Kadabra to prepare the transporter and send a message back to Viridian to let them know to prepare things for her return. Well crap. At least in the morning she might be tired enough to keep her mouth shut while she worked.

The mug was empty, she noted. With a curt 'Good night' she rose and headed off to one of the on hand bedrooms.

xxx

A.N. Now, how many of you thought I'd forgotten about Celia? Haha... no. She's the rival, and later on she will be playing major roles. Also, for those of you who remember way back in chapter two? Yes, a good chunk of the Nerima wrecking crew is scattered all over the multiverse... Taro is just the first to make an appearance.

And anyway, I'm going to keep changing Celia's lineup according to what's available in Kanto, rather than doing what I am with Ranma/Rei and commiting to a final team right from the very beginning. The only one she'll keep is her Eevee and whatever it evolves into... probably my own invention of Draceon... while the other five slots could change at any given time. So you shouldn't be surprised if, later, she has a completely different lineup from one chapter to the next. Basically, she's going to be catching at least one of everything she sees.

Also, I recently considered the fact that Ranma would, eventually, be leaving Pokemonland. It might take a long time, and it might take twenty or more chapters of writing to get to that point, but yes, they will eventually move on. I did title this story 'Wanderer' for a reason. Now, that means that they'll be stuck with just that team of six when they leave, and there are places I might send them to that would be nice for them to have some backup. Large, intimidating backup. So, I've decided to go back on my word and pick an extra three backup Pokemon from a list.

METAGROSS. Note that if I go with this one, it _will_ be shiny. White and gold is just more awesome than blue and gray.

AERODACTYL. Just for the intimidation factor of a giant, stone Pterodactyl.

MAGNEZONE. Because it looks like a UFO, and that's awesome.

GYARADOS. Granted, it has a REALLY HUGE and glaring weakness to electricity... but on the other hand, it's just plain HUGE and mean looking.

MISMAGIUS. Why not. Ghosts are scary, y'know?

ABSOL. Has a blade sticking out of its head. If that's not intimidating, I dunno what is.

SCYTHER. Because of its freaky blade arms.

DRAGONAIR. Is supposed to be able to affect the weather somehow. Nifty.

Now, I'm not going to use _all_ of these. I gotta narrow them down to three selections. As there's eight there, that means five of them will be gone. They still won't be part of the main team, though. Keep in mind that these eight were selected for the intimidation factor, and not for any particular strengths or weaknesses they might have.

Now, current teams...

Ranma/Rei.

Kirlia, F, 22

Glaceon, F, 8

And Celia.

Eevee, M, 12

Rattatta, M, 6

Pidgey, F, 7

Caterpie, M, 4

So yeah, at the moment Celia would be owned in a battle with Ranma or Rei. And the Level up aura thingy will slow down as they get more powerful and stop affecting them entirely at a certain point... say... eighty or ninety percent. Just so you know.


	8. Chapter 8

Wanderer

xxx

The bed was uncomfortable.

Rei didn't seem to care, but Ranma did. Even the futons that she was accustomed to sleeping on, on the bare floor, were more comfortable than this. Combined with that, Kirlia and Glaceon had decided to sleep on top of _her_ rather than on the floor, driving her back deeper into the pointy springs covered by no more than a paper-thin layer of padding.

On the other hand, it was warm. Really, really warm. So much so that it was almost a blessing that the single blanket was so old and thin that moths had eaten large holes in it, because if it had been thicker than that, she would be lying in a pool of sweat. Or if the room itself happened to be any warmer, for instance. Either it was colder than normal outside tonight, or this place's heater just didn't work for shit. Probably the latter.

Glaceon shifted in its sleep, driving one knee painfully into Ranma's side. If she'd known that its fur was like millions of little frozen needles, she would have thought a little longer about Eevee's evolutionary path. Maybe gone with Vaporeon instead... it could learn Ice attacks, and a little dampness would be much easier to deal with. At least it wasn't Jolteon.

And Kirlia's arms had grown with its evolution. It had been cute, how Ralts would cling to her neck as they slept. With Kirlia's stronger arms accidentally squeezing to the point where her breath would be cut off for a moment, it was much less cute.

Her mind idly reflected to a dog breeder she'd met once, who had specialized in raising the larger breeds. The important part, he'd said, was to remember that no matter how cute and cuddly they were as puppies, that they would grow, and that they would expect roughly the same treatment as they grew. So it would be best not to let the puppy sit on your lap, or on your favorite chair, no matter how cute or pathetic it looked, because when it was fully grown it would not understand why you would get upset when it tried to hop into your lap, or when it curled up on your chair instead of on the floor.

It probably would have done her a lot more good if she'd remembered this a while ago.

xxx

This coffee stuff... it was ambrosia. Nectar of the gods. Manna from heaven. An unspeakable earthly delight to Ranma, who had gotten, at best, two hours of sleep last night. Her pokemon were, naturally, disgustingly well rested and happy. As was Carol. If she focused, she thought she might hear birdsong outside as dawn broke, doubtlessly shining through clouds and creating a rainbow as flowers bloomed.

She wanted to kill something. As messily as possible.

Kirlia shied slightly away from her, but displayed no other reaction to her bloodthirsty impulses.

"Good MOOOR-NIIIING, Grunt Ranma!"

Ranma's arm shot out to catch Carol by the collar of her shirt, dragging her down to stare into her bloodshot eyes and smell her coffee-stained breath. A growl that had absolutely no place emerging from human vocal cords, did. Carol becan sweating.

"...I... I-I see you didn't sleep well... I'll just leave you alone for a little while... maybe make another pot of coffee?"

"Please do." Ranma rasped.

The four Kadabra, not having the restraint of Kirlia, were visibly cowering and whimpering behind the spherical transport. Ranma ignored them as she poured herself another cup of coffee. And another. And a third. Ah... murderous impulses... settling down... into general aggravation and irritation. At everyone and everything.

This coffee stuff was really great. Even better than Kasumi's special morning brew of tea.

xxx

Professor Ash whistled softly as he skimmed through young miss Ayanami's latest report. As usual, it was full, comprehensive, and detailed. And scarcely a word of it was believable, although she hadn't seemed like the type to lie.

Most people, knowing of Ralts and its evolutionary line's response to positive emotion, would raise it similarly to someone trying to evolve a baby pokemon to its higher stages. Except for those few sick, twisted people that would just stuff them with enough meds that their eyes would glaze and they would start drooling. They were drugged up, not happy.

Young Rei, however, had decided to take a completely different approach to training her Ralts. A system of rewards and benefits, brutal training, and presumably punishments for misbehaviour as well. Starting directly with a radical approach... it would only be kept within the pokeball when absolutely neccessary. It reminded him of his younger days, when he wandered the world with Pikachu. Despite his stellar example as to how it benefited the Pokemon in question, she was the only one to follow that example that he had ever met.

Even, sadly, his own son had never released his Pokemon for anything but battle or healing at a Pokemon center. Celia seemed to be marginally better in that respect... she would release Eevee so often and squeal over it because it was so cute, if nothing else.

She also claimed to have, with the help of another Ralts trainer, developed a new two stage Psychic/Rock type attack. It was fascinating. Few had ever thought to use attacks that mingled the elements, and those that did would generally use the long-standing Tri-attack. To create a new attack... a new attack using two seperate elements... it was unheard of. Yet a simple telephone call confirmed that this attack had been used to devastating effect by a trainer with a Ralts in Viridian.

Outright fascinating, seeing as a simple description of the trainer confirmed that it wasn't Rei.

And now, the few readings that were still coming from her pokedex showed that she had aquired an Eevee egg somewhere, hatched it almost immediately, then evolved it almost immediately to Glaceon. Frankly, Ash found that almost as interesting as Rei's manner of training. But the reports held nothing but information on her Ralts, only nebulously mentioning the Glaceon as 'an Ice type'.

Paranoid, and clever. If anyone wanted further details, they would have to contact her and pay her to detail a study on her other pokemon. He had no doubt that she would collect an intelligent team of four more, then simply stop capturing other Pokemon, so as not to trigger the automatic transfer function of the Pokedex. So Ash wouldn't even be able to take the long, confusing route of asking one of his Pokemon to ask one of hers something, then trying to puzzle out the answer through hours upon hours of charades.

No matter what was listed as 'Official' knowledge, he was fully aware that all pokemon had at least the level of intelligence of a small child. If he could just get the funding to complete his project, then studies would be much easier, because he could simply _ask_ the pokemon something, and have it answer. Granted, there were people who claimed that some psychic types could use their abilities to speak in others minds, but the only one he had ever come across with that ability was-

... You know, he couldn't quite remember. He knew it was a Psychic type, and that it had been quite capable of speaking, but he couldn't remember anything else about it. In fact, there was a large chunk of time that was completely missing from his memory. Odd, that. His mind slid to something else and he completely forgot about it.

In any case, the only other Pokemon he'd met who could speak and understand the human tongue was Meowth. It had been classified as an abberation and a fluke, as the average Meowth was as dumb as your typical houseplant. Meowth had actually explained once, why it had bothered to learn to read the human language, and to force his vocal cords to make sounds that were unnatural and frankly painful to it. It had been to impress a female. Ironically, she'd thought him a freak for talking in the human tongue. He'd been crushed, and ended up joining the original Team Rocket in his depression. One more mark against him in the public eye.

For a while, he'd been able to hire him as a translator for some of his more important experiments. Then he died. Not even of old age, but in a stupid accident that had killed James and Jessie as well. They had forgotten maintenance on that Magikarp-submarine of theirs, and the gears had locked up. It had sank to the bottom, sprung a leak, and the escape hatch didn't open. Ironic, as that particular patch of sea was notably shallow... had they managed to open the hatch, they could have swum up for air, and easily made it to the shore. Instead, they had all drowned. Also ironic was that Meowth _could_ have survived if he'd been willing to register himself as belonging to either Jessie or James. But a free operative was paid more, and the original Giovanni had allowed him to write in a clause to his contract to avoid being balled. He'd had no reason to, but conversly he'd had no reason not to, and it was a little enough thing to allow.

If he'd been in a ball, he would have survived the accident the same way that Arbok and Weezing had.

Ash sighed and shook his head. How had he become lost in memories so easily? He still had work to do.

He closed out the screen, ignoring that the data from the Pokedex was sending a black square and scrambled characters instead of a name and picture. He knew what name and face was supposed to be there, so what did it matter? After all, who else would have Rei's Pokedex but Rei?

xxx

Ranma sneezed, loudly, causing the Kadabra to jump before calming their nerves.

_"Where to next, Saotome?"_

_'Well... we still need at least one more Pokemon to be able to battle seriously. And I just remembered that if you win at the slots in Celadon, you can change the tokens for a decent level pokemon. I checked with Kaz and he confirmed that they still did that last time he was called in to take a shift guarding a shipment of Pokemon, which was a couple months ago.'_

_"So we shall waste our money in the futile effort of gambling, then."_

_'Who said anything about waste? I'm no good at cards, I'll admit, but Pops and I would pick up traveling money from the slots in casinos. Granted, he'd turn around and spend it all immediately on overpriced food and booze... but I know a few tricks. And unless they have a martial arts master watching, who's at least as competent with his chi as I am, they can't possibly catch me at it.'_

Ranma paused at the door to the capsule and frowned.

_'I only just remembered how small this thing is. I don't like doing this, but we won't all fit otherwise.'_

Ranma withdrew a Pokeball and tapped the button as she pointed it at Glaceon. After it dissolved into red light, she hooked it back on her belt. With just her and Kirlia, there would be a little more room. In exchange, she would buy Glaceon a nice treat later, so it all worked out.

Once again, Kirlia chose to sit on rather than near her. Although given her larger size, she had chosen to plop in her lap rather than attempt to sit on her shoulder. The trip was relatively silent most of the way.

_'You know Rei... I just thought of something.'_

_"What?"_

_'It's important to keep the whole curse thing a secret... but people are going to get suspicious if the both of us use the same lineup of Pokemon.'_

Rei had not thought of this. Suspicion could lead to questions being raised that were better left unasked.

_'I mean, one or two, that would be fine. We're just two trainers that happen to have the same type of Pokemon. Even that they're roughly the same level could be easily explained away. But all six, all the same level? That's stretching coincidence just a little bit too far. Especially if they're... shined, or whatever it is. That makes them rarer, right? I mean what was it... one in how many thousand? Us both using Kirlia in battle is one thing. She's rare, but not _that_ rare. But only one of us is going to be able to use Glaceon. We'll have to decide now.'_

_"I do not care."_

_'... Fine. I'll use Glaceon then. You seem to be rather disinterested in this whole process.'_

_"If I could sleep until we have left this world, I would. There is no point to my being here. I was created for the sole purpose of causing Third Impact and destroying all living things. With no way to cause this, I am without purpose."_

_'... If you go Emo on me, I swear I will carve you out of our head with a rusty spoon.'_

_"..."_

_'So, since you just don't give a damn, I'll go ahead and set my team up the way I'd planned, and we'll just give you whatever else we happen across.'_

_"That will be acceptable."_

_'Alright, that's it. I've had enough.'_

Ranma closed her eyes and focused on inside her skull. She didn't know exactly what she was doing, but after a moment something clicked. Then when she opened her eyes she was back in the misty between place that was her mind.

"And exactly what was the purpose of this, Saotome?"

She snapped.

"YOU! You're the fucking purpose! I've been nice, I've tried to understand your point of view because we're stuck together, probably forever. If I couldn't deal with someone else, I could just walk away for a while and be alone, but I don't have that option here. You're a clone that was carved from Angel flesh? Fine. I've seen way weirder shit in Nerima. You want to destroy the world? That's fine too, I guess. You can't help it, because it's what you were built for. I get that. I get that you don't really understand how to deal with people outside of piloting a giant robot for them or turning them into goo either, I understand that you have almost no social skills. But you don't even want to fucking TRY! All you want to do is sit in the back of our head and let me do all the work, hoping that eventually we'll land on a planet that you can blow to smithereens. And I'm sick of it!"

Rei cocked her head to one side, showing only the tiniest hint of confusion.

"I do not understand why it matters."

Ranma's hand snapped up, then dropped back slowly to her side.

"You know what? I don't even know _why_ you make me so angry. You just push all my buttons. You're like a little kid that didn't get a candy bar, so to spite your parents you'll starve yourself. Think about that for a while, Rei."

Ranma turned and faded out into the real world again, leaving Rei with a frown on her face. The scene shifted to the Reiquarium and back again as she thought.

A child... was that how she was acting? As far back as she could remember, she had never truly acted as a child, and never been treated as a child. She wouldn't know how a child would act, or why... perhaps that was why she was so strangely offended at the accusation. And why she was so troubled that it might be true. The mists faded and she was looking out Ranma's eyes again.

_"... My apologies, Saotome."_

_'Meh. Don't worry about it. Now, it would probably be best for you to have the balanced team... you're a proper trainer after all. Me, I'm working as a rocket now, so I can put a team together out of whatever and nobody'll care. I was thinking, the Rockets seem like the more genteel Mafia families. So I should go for powerful, imposing things. I'm just glad they don't seem to have the requirement for grunts to only train an ekans and weezing like they did in the game.'_

The capsule began vibrating.

_'Problem is, most of the powerful, imposing Pokemon have really huge, glaringly obvious weaknesses. So... putting a team together...'_

_"We have arrived, Saotome. Perhaps this discussion would be better put off for a short time?"_

_'Eh... yeah, sure.'_

The door hissed as it opened. Kirlia hopped to the ground to let them stand as they left.

"Which way to the casino?"

xxx

"That will be one thousand credits for fifty tokens, ma'am."

Ranma nodded and paid up, recieving a paltry few tokens for the prodigious sum.

_"I will trust that you know what you are doing, Saotome. We cannot afford to lose such an amount at this point."_

_'I told you, I know what I'm doing. The trick is to lose the first few rounds, then win a good sized pot. Then lose a few more and win another one. Then lose a few more and hit the jackpot. If you hit multiple jackpots all at once, they'll decide you're cheating. They won't know how, but they'll ask you to leave and not come back. If you lose a little, but still come out ahead, they'll just decide you were lucky.'_

Ranma plugged three tokens into the machine and pulled the arm, sitting back and watching as the reels spun. 7... 7... 7.

Loud victory music began playing as the machine spat out tokens.

_'... okay. I didn't do that, but whatever.'_

She plugged in some more tokens and pulled it again. 7... 7... 7. The victory music began again and she was sure that someone would have been coming over any second to question her about it, except that she was just as obviously confused about it as they were. She plugged in a single token and tried again. Nothing. That was more like what she'd expected. Relieved, she plugged in another three tokens. 7... 7... 7.

As she left, there was a flood of people overturning chairs, kicking, clawing, and biting each other to see who got that particular machine.

_"I confess Saotome... that was most impressive."_

_'I didn't do it, I swear!'_

_"Whether you did or not, we have come out of this well ahead. How much did we win?"_

_'... Something like eight thousand tokens. So yeah, we could probably pick up two pokemon here.'_

Conveniently, the token exchange building was right next to the casino.

_"Which ones?"_

Ranma hesitated, unsure as she took a look at the huge digital list. Instead of the five or six choices she'd expected, there were hundreds. She scrolled through them, uncertain, then selected one to take a closer look at.

Houndour. A Fire/Dark type.

She tapped the name and a new selection opened, showing the Houndour available, their abilities, and available moves. She sifted through them for a few minutes and decided on one. Its ability was Flash Fire, apparently allowing it to power up when hit by fire moves. She'd have to remember that. But the main reason she chose it was because it knew fire spin and will-o-wisp. She didn't know what the second one was, but fire spin would be useful, and none of the other Houndour had it.

Granted, she wasn't thrilled with the nickname. Demon. How utterly original.

The machine instructed her to empty her coin case into the tray. She did, and as the tokens whirred through the machine, a number appeared in the corner. Small at first, but it grew swiftly, and the final total was nearly nine thousand. The machine requested that she confirm that yes, she did indeed want this particular pokemon. She hit the button and a series of noises emerged from the machine before a plain white pokeball dropped out. The amount of tokens was subtracted from her total as she absently hooked it on her belt.

What next... how about... OOH! Dratini!

It was a pure Dragon type, and expensive, but it wasn't like she couldn't afford it. Once again she scrolled through the list of available Dratini. There were only three, whereas there had been a dozen seperate Houndour.

Lets see... the first one was pretty normal, no special moves or anything. But it was much cheaper than the other two, at only 3500 tokens. But she still had over 6500, so she moved on. The second had Dragonbreath and Dragon dance, immediately attracting her attention. This one would cost a thousand more credits. Then the third... it had a veritable menagerie of moves. Dragonbreath, Dragon dance, Dragon rush, Substitute, Icy wind and Draco meteor. Of course, it was also well out of her price range, at 7500 tokens.

Making her decision, she went with the middle road, and took the one for 4500 tokens. It, also, had a nickname. Leria. A completely meaningless word that had absolutely nothing to do with what it was, or looked like, or anything in particular, really. She liked it, and confirmed the exchange. The machine whirred and spat out another Pokeball. This one, rather than being entirely white, was a purply pink color and studded with what looked at first to be gemstones, but on closer inspection were proved to just be shiny, faceted crystals.

Clipping it next to the white pokeball, she had the machine spit the remaining tokens back out and moved on to the next one. TMs.

She dumped the coin case into it and began skimming through the available list, going straight to the electric attack section. Hmm... nice variety. Thundershock, Shock wave, Spark, Thunderbolt... there we go. She clicked the Thunderbolt marker and the machine promptly drained half of her remaining coins as it spit out what appeared to be a yellowish cd-rom.

At length, she selected a second TM. Shadow ball, a ghost type technique. Perhaps not the best way to spend her thousand remaining tokens, but diversity never hurt in a battle. And once Kirlia evolved again, she was fully intent on teaching her the Anything goes Ballroom dancing style, and possibly the secrets of the Anything goes Breakdancing as well.

Of note was that Anything goes Breakdancing did not, in fact, have much in common with typical breakdancing. It was actually a very chaotic battle technique that, in swift and elegant ballet-like actions and powerful strikes, would result in the user smashing everything they struck and leaving craters beneath their feet. Quite literally, a dance that broke things.

Ranma was already out the door before she realized that she had no idea how the TMs worked.

_"Perhaps you should have verified this before purchasing the items?"_

_'I really hadn't thought about it... in the game, you would just select something from the list and it would be used automatically. It was obvious how some things would be used... the spray on potions, for instance... This, not so much.'_

_"I noted that we passed a pokemon center roughly a block to the north of here on our way to the casino. Perhaps we could ask someone in there?"_

_'Or failing that, the Joy. Good point.'_

xxx

It was almost worth the 'You don't even know this? What rock did you crawl out from under?' looks when she asked the Joy in charge of the Celadon pokemon center how to use TMs. She explained it, slowly and simply, like one would to a young child, then firmly insisted that they leave town to try it out.

It was actually pretty simple. Just hold the disc facing towards Kirlia... and carefully let it go. It would actually hover in place for a moment as it locked on and then... presto.

The Thunderbolt TM had spun rapidly and let off sparks in every direction as ingrained knowledge of how to perform the move into Kirlias mind. When it was finished, it shattered in a shower of sparks and a flash of light. The Shadow ball TM was a little more subtle. It puffed into a thin, bluish black mist that hovered around Kirlia's face until she inhaled it. Now they just needed some sap to test the new attacks on.

"Hey... I wonder where that flash came from?"

_"Exemplary timing."_

_'What does that first word mean?'_

_"... Perhaps we should invest in a thesaurus. Exemplary has a similar meaning to 'Excellent' or 'Good'."_

_'Oh. Well why didn't you use one of those then?'_

"It's a Kirlia! ... But it has a trainer. Darn."

Ranma rolled her eyes towards the dejected looking kid that had wandered up to her.

"Beat it. I'm busy."

"Do you want to battle? It'll be fun!"

"I don't feel like it."

She recieved a dumb, blank stare in reply, as if the kid couldn't comprehend her answer. As though she'd suddenly spoken in an alien tongue composed of clicks and whirrs. Like he couldn't imagine any tamer _not_ wanting to test their Pokemon against another's at any given time of the day or night. While annoying, it confirmed something for her.

"Tch. Whatever. If you insist, then let's get this over with."

"Alright! A double battle, two on two?"

"... No. Kirlia, against everything you might have."

There was that blank stare again. Like he was finding it really difficult to comprehend that the girl he'd challenged had redefined the terms of the battle in his favor, but he quickly came to grips with it and released his two Pokemon. A Carvahna and a Shuppet. Ranma snorted. This was exactly the best possible matchup available for testing Kirlia's new moves. She brushed it off after a moment. Nah. Just coincidence.

"Kirlia, Gentle Battledance."

She had to admit, as the psychic switched automatically into a soft martial-arts stance, that she was picking up a flair for naming things.

"Gentle... Battledance...? I've never heard of a move like that! Whatever... Carvy, Shup-pyon, ...Stop snickering! My kid sister nicknamed them, and now they won't respond to anything... Gah! Attack!"

Ranma waited for her snickers to die down as Kirlia gently moved itself out of the way of every attack as they were launched. And she'd been worried about 'Demon'... Aside from that, this kid had an interesting battle style. And by that, she meant that he sucked. Much as she hated to say it, throwing more force at an opponent didn't always earn you the win.

"Kirlia, Thunderbolt on the Carvahna, then revert to Gentle Battledance."

On their next pass, Kirlia stopped as her opponents blundered past. Raising one hand into the air, she snapped her fingers and a bolt of lightning crashed down from the cloudless sky and into 'Carvy'. It fell to the ground, twitched a few times, then stopped moving. The kid withdrew it with a modicum of protest.

"It's all up to you now Shup-pyon... _will you cool it with the snickering!?_"

"Heh-he-he... I'm bored with this now. Kirlia, finish it off with Shadow ball."

Kirlia came to a halt and clapped its hands together. As they spread, the attack formed... a sphere of some sort of purple miasma. She pulled back one arm and launched it, and it increased in size manyfold as it flew. The Shuppet didn't even bother trying to dodge as the kid's jaw dropped, perhaps accepting that there was no way it could win.

"Gnn... fine, you win. I'll have the money credited to-"

"Keep it kid. I didn't really want to battle in the first place."

Again with the blank, stupid look. Ranma got the feeling that this was going to end up being a pretty common theme.

xxx

A.N. Y'know, I don't even know what the suffix -Pyon means. As far as I can tell, it's just there to sound cute. Please let me know if it really does mean something.

Also, I'm not one hundred percent sure that this is how the TMs are actually used. I mean, it kinda looks like that with the short little animation in the FireRed/LeafGreen packs, but I could be mistaken. Still, it's as good an explanation as any, I guess.

Now then, you've probably already figured that Dragonair is one of the final choices for the extra three. Now, after long consideration and taking due note of the suggestions you guys posted in your reviews... thanx, by the way... combined with consideration for potential future plot twists... the final, _final_ two will be Metagross and Absol. I was really considering Gyarados for a while, until one person suggested I put it in because there probably wasn't much in the future worlds that could zap it. In fact, he was wrong. There are all sorts of things in some of the worlds I plan on sending them to that can wield electric attacks. Case in point, the Bolt/Thunder spell. Every single black mage in every single Final Fantasy game invented will invariably have one of the two forms of this puppy. And most of them will have come into contact with things _far_ nastier than an angry Gyarados and kept their wits. ZAP!

Now for the checkup on how the pokemon are progressing.

Ranma:

Kirlia, F, 27

Dratini, 'Leria', M, 19

Rei:

Kirlia, F, 27

shinyGlaceon, F, 16

Houndour, 'Demon', M, 16

Celia:

Eevee, M, 16

Pidgey, F, 12

Butterfree, M, 10

Clefairy, M, 11

Yeah, her rat is gone, replaced with one of the pixies of Mt. Moon. And yeah, she'd still get owned in a match with Ranma _or_ Rei's lineup. In case of a specific Pokemon overlapping between their teams... and there will be more than just Kirlia, they will be marked with the asterisk.

Can't think of anything else important enough to note... I'll just end it here then.


	9. Chapter 9

Wanderer

xxx

Naturally, Ash wasn't the only one keeping a discreet eye on the new field researcher. The Kanto league officials were a good place to start. Given that they had access to the records of millions of unobtrusive cameras throughout every city and town in their jurisdiction, it was easy enough for them to track her movements even with the way she seemed to dissappear at times.

That was actually why they were so interested in tracking her... because she didn't seem to be actively trying to avoid their notice, but was more difficult to track than some who _did_.

Connections had been quickly made between her and the redhead who showed up every so often. A new Rocket Grunt, apparently, despite that she wasn't wearing the uniform, but an outfit similar to the field researcher's choice of dress. Eerily similar. In fact, it was confirmed after a few checks that they were wearing the exact same damn outfit. A hypothesis was formed.

The Field Researcher and the Rocket Grunt were the same person. Pleased with this deduction, the matter was shelved and ignored. What did they care if someone decided to try to pull down two seperate paychecks?

There were, of course, others who didn't shelve things so easily and looked more deeply into the matter.

xxx

The shadowy figure raised an arm and gestured to a nearby, indistinct figure.

"Report."

"As you directed, I looked into the matter. She has no records, for either of her persona. No home town, no parents, no birth records, no medical records... nothing. According to the computer trails, she only just came into existence recently, when Professor Ash gave her a starter. Just a couple of days ago."

"Interesting... continue."

"Well, despite her relative nonexistence and lack of... any official study whatsoever, she's taken to things like a fish to water. Far better than expected."

"And about her persona?"

"Ah... that's the interesting thing. I've confirmed that she's using the same Kirlia in both her persona, but that's not the most intriguing thing. Simply put, it's not possible. I've collected samples of hairs left behind from where she sleeps. Samples of both forms. The DNA readings confirm that she's actually two different people. That's not possible. I'd been writing it off before that as her just being a quick-change artist, or wearing wigs or something. It's just not-"

"Not possible, yes. Stop all DNA testings."

"Sir?"

"Stop them, now. And have all the current results classified to levels where they aren't allowed to be thought about, delete all recorded data and send me all the hard copies."

"Yes sir."

There was silence for a moment as the flunkie left.

"... And _your_ report?"

"Well... all I can say is that she's definitely unconvential, but has produced results. Note that she raised her starter significantly in a matter of days... more than enough to cream the brat's choices in a two on one match. Also, she has a noted attitude shift depending on whether she's 'Rei' or 'Ranma' at the time. Maybe schitzophrenia?"

"Last I checked, mental diseases don't cause physical changes over such short periods of time."

"Huh. Whatever... you're the boss, Mr. Giovanni."

Giovanni leaned back into his chair as the second flunkie left, and grinned, then hit a few keys on a nearby board to send details of the next mission for the grunt. Not exactly the usual fetch-carry-deliver stuff that grunts were assigned, but nobody would question him. He was the boss.

"Such an interesting girl you are, miss Ayanami. Interesting indeed. I wonder what will happen when the other organizations begin to turn their curious gazes to you?"

He carefully held his fingertips together as he leaned back into the chair once more. The only thing missing from the tableau of 'evil mastermind' was a Persian... but he was allergic to shed feline hairs. Pity.

xxx

Ranma sneezed in the middle of demonstrating a new kata to Kirlia, then rubbed at her nose in confusion. Then she decided that her hair was probably long enough to put in a pigtail again, and still growing at a rapid pace, so it would be a good idea to do that soon. Hair flying loose and into her face was starting to get really annoying.

_"Saotome, a question. Is it possible that the Telekinesis Kirlia has exhibited can be turned upon itself rather than an opponent or part of the landscape, and thus exhibit a reasonable fascimile of independent flight?"_

A large sweatdrop rolled down Ranma's head and she flicked a finger at Kirlia.

"If you understood _anything_ of whatever the hell she just said, then go ahead and try it."

Kirlia slowly cocked her head to the side, then gave the appearance of shrugging and lifted slowly off the ground.

_'Hn... Oh! I get it now. You couldn't have just said 'Can she try to fly?''_

_"That _is_ what I said."_

_'But with bigger words that I don't know the meaning of.'_

_"... We're buying a dictionary in the next town. And a thesaurus. Possibly an encyclopaedia as well."_

_'Encykolwhatia?'_

The blast of electric pain, when it came, was powerful enough that Ranma's eyes glazed and it looked like there were sparks shooting out of her right ear for a moment.

"Okay... you just keep running through that kata... while I take a nap."

Ranma fell with a thump to the ground. Only then did Rei remember that she couldn't move their body on her own until they came into contact with hot water.

Naturally, this was the point where their pokedex began ringing like a cell phone. And she couldn't do a thing about it.

If she could move their eyes, they'd be twitching right now.

xxx

In certain conditions, rumors spread faster than sound could carry them. Giovanni knew this, which is why he didn't bother to classify much. Everything else had already spread beyond any possible containment. And directly to all the spies that had been planted in Team Rocket by other organizations.

Nothing to do about it, really. Well... He could, technically, have all the rampant gossipers executed. The original Giovanni would have gone that route. But as the most flagrant yammerers tended to be his most valuable scientists and researchers, he couldn't really afford to have them 'removed'.

So instead, he was very careful about who knew what. Only the most trustworthy and tightlipped were allowed to learn more than they absolutely had to. Even people assigned to working on the same projects would be divided up into groups, one working on one part of the problem, another on a different one, and a third on something else entirely. Usually something completely unrelated to their project at all.

It worked wonders for confusing the hell out of people who were trying to figure out his plans.

Of course, there were times when someone untrustworthy _did_ get ahold of information that would have disastrous consequences should certain people get their hands on it.

A full shift to the genetic level?

Team Rocket had their fingers in quite a few pies, including genetic manipulation. They had created a new, unique Pokemon, an altered clone of the Legendary Mew, after all. And in their first generation to boot. However, they had to learn things from somewhere, and had stolen the keys to the new science from the Cypher Syndicate.

As far as they'd gotten, they were still embarrasingly far behind Cypher's scientists. Things that Rocket's research and development sections would call blatantly impossible were done regularly and without batting an eye in the Orre region. For example, old Johann had decided that it would be a _great_ idea if certain elite grunts could use the techniques of Pokemon and had set the scientists to find out how to do it. He figured they would easily be able to work out some sort of gene splicing mechanism. They couldn't figure out a way, and so wrote it off as impossible.

That was thirty-five years ago. Thirty years ago, Cypher introduced the first of their tank-grown 'Hybrids', probably for no other reason than to poke Johann in the eye and laugh. Now, a full ninety percent of their syndicate were Hybrids, their processes having evolved much further than having to grow them in tubes from scratch. One injection of a few cc's of the weird glowy chemicals that they liked so much plus a few strands of the proper DNA, and presto. A Hybrid.

Of course, there were still bugs to work out. Namely that there was still no way for someone who had undergone the process to revert completely to a human. Once you were changed, it was forever... no going back. And they were having trouble with the experiments to turn Pokemon themselves into Hybrids, it seemed.

If they heard about the oddities of his new operative, they'd waste no time in making every effort to get her on their dissection tables. Which was why he'd had a certain scientist drugged and brought to his own laboratory, where he had a pair of Alakazam waiting, and had certain memories carefully extracted from his skull.

A much more effective trick than simply killing the man off.

xxx

It was with great relief that Rei realized Saotome had begun to stir. And about time as well... the endless ring tone was slowly driving her to the point where she might consider doing something... rash... and without having further orders from Saotome, Kirlia had been running through the kata over and over and was beginning to get slightly wobbly from exhaustion. Silently, she vowed not to be so harsh in correcting Saotome's stupidities in the future.

At least, while she was the one in control of their body anyway.

_'Mflurglensherintraa?'_

_"Saotome."_

_'Nnnaa?'_

_"Answer the Pokedex."_

_'Deeex?'_

_"Answer the Pokedex. Now."_

Ranma groaned as she sat up and reached for the little red rectangle with one hand, waving her other at Kirlia. It gratefully flopped down and began gasping for air. Not particularly cruel by nature, Ranma rolled a couple bottles of water its way.

"Yeeaah?"

The voice on the other end of the line was crackly with static.

"About time, Grunt. I've been paging you for hours."

"Sorry boss. You seem to have caught me napping."

There was a slightly amused 'Hrumph' from the line.

"In any case, there's a job for you. Straight from the top, if you can believe it. Giovanni seems to have taken a direct interest in you."

"Thrilling."

The boss on the line either didn't catch the sarcasm or didn't care.

"Sending you the mission specs now. Enjoy."

Ranma paused for a moment, staring at the screen, before Rei mentally pointed out which buttons to press.

_'That's interesting. There's a couple Team Aqua Grunts causing trouble for Vermillion. Officially, the league police are supposed to be handling this.'_

_"But unofficially, they're leaving it to us to expel the foreign Team members."_

_'So. Vermillion is south of here, right? Let's get going.'_

Kirlia quickly finished off the second bottle of water and hopped to its feet, crushing the bottles with telekinesis and launching them away.

xxx

"Sir, we've recieved confirmation and have the backup standing by in case of the operative's failure."

"Good... Good."

"Sir... if I may be so bold as to ask, just why are you allowing a grunt to take on this mission? Even with an agent as backup-"

"_That_ is none of your concern. Suffice to say that if reports of this task impress me, the grunt may be in line for a promotion."

"... You're the boss, Mr. Giovanni."

"Indeed."

xxx

"Twenty minutes between Saffron and Vermillion." Ranma muttered. "And that's at a slow walk. Freaking ridiculous."

There was a tug at Ranma's pants. She looked down at a grinning kid.

"Hey, Hey! Did you hear about the captain of the S.S.Tidal? They say that he's a master of sword techniques and if you ask nicely, he'll teach your Pokemon how to use Cut!"

"That's... nice. Get lost kid."

The child grinned and ignored her.

"He taught my Paras! Wanna see?"

"No."

The child frowned and muttered "Meanie." before kicking her in the shin and running off with a giggle. Ranma glowered after her.

"I. Hate. Kids." She shook her head lightly. "'Sides, we got work to do."

_"The reports indicate that the attacks happen just outside the east gate."_

_'Good. We go, deal with them, call the boss and we're done. Maybe we can sneak onto the Tidal afterwards.'_

_"You wish to have the captain teach Cut?"_

_'Hell no. I just want to fight him. Not with Pokemon, but a straight up fight. If he really is a 'Master of sword techniques' then he might know something I haven't seen yet.'_

_"Ah. If I might make a suggestion-"_

"Halt!"

Ranma casually drew to a stop as the two Aqua Grunts they'd been sent to deal with leapt out of a tree.

_'Huh. Easiest job ever.'_

"Hand over your Pokemon, your money, your food, your pack, and all your clothes and we _might_ think about letting you walk away from this."

Ranma casually lifted a hand and extended a single finger. Both the grunts turned red.

"Fine. If that's the way you want it, then you can take a grand tour of the ocean floor! Sharpedo, Go!"

"Ludiculo, you're up!"

Ranma held up her hand as Kirlia began to hop forward.

"Now, now. We want the others to have their fun too."

_'Can you transfer mental commands to the others?'_

Kirlia's eyes flashed as it settled back down and she felt something like a wet spiderweb wrap around her brain. She nodded and tossed two pokeballs, relasing Glaceon and the Dratini Leria. The spiderweb tingled for a minute signaling, she assumed, an established mental link.

_'I'll work with Leria.'_

_"One moment. I memorized the available movesets earlier-"_ Ranma nearly sweatdropped at the mental sound of rustling paper. _"Here."_

The fight was brutal. And short. Very short. Less than sixty seconds later the Sharpedo was frozen inside a very large block of ice and the Ludiculo was approaching 'Deep-Fried'. She sighed and recalled her battlers.

"That was... really pathetic."

"Yeah... well... OMG, MEWTWO!"

Ranma's eyebrows shot up with complete and total disbelief but decided to play along, for the amusement factor if nothing else. Sure enough, when she glanced over her shoulder there was nothing there, and by the time she'd turned back around, the miniature glacier was empty, as was the charred black ring, and the Aqua Grunts were busy making tracks.

She shook her head and hefted Kirlia to sit on her shoulder.

"Teleport."

The moment that she phased back into existence, she grabbed hold of the Aqua's heads and smacked them together with a sound like coconuts.

"I _was_ just going to tie you to a tree or something and phone the cops. Now? You've gone and pissed me off. So..."

She grinned and cracked her knuckles.

"Hand over your money, your pack, your food, and your clothes, and I _might_ think about letting you walk away. No promises, though."

Fifteen minutes later, the two grunts were left dangling by their ankles from a low branch in nothing but their underwear, arms tied behind their back, and their single pokeball each stuffed in their mouths. Ranma herself was cheerfully whistling as she hefted over her shoulder what is professionally termed a 'Sack o' Swag'.

xxx

"End recording."

There was silence for a moment.

"So boss... Dunno about you, but to _me_... that was pretty damn impressive."

"It was adequate. Prepare the test to promote her to operative class."

"Right away, boss!"

xxx

_"Decent haul. What did that bring us up to?"_

Rei tapped a couple of buttons on the pokedex.

_'Our account has stored approximately fifteen thousand credits.'_

_"Nice! And that's just with selling the clothes and spare pokeballs. Finished hacking _their_ account yet?"_

_'One moment. The line is processing the request and... we're in.'_

_"..."_

_"That's... a SHITLOAD of money! Drain it, drain it! Hahahaha!"_

_'Setting up alternate, encrypted accounts now.'_

Rei's fingers were positively flying across the keyboard as pages flew across the miniature monitor on the 'dex.

_'Accounts opened. Draining Aqua account now.'_

_"We're rich, we're rich, we're rich!"_

_'Draining complete. We now have approximately seventy million credits spread out across twelve encrypted accounts. We are indeed quite rich. A question?'_

_"Shoot."_

_'It will swiftly become obvious that Team Aqua's hoards have gone missing, and thence where they went. Should we leave a trail, allowing them to track us down, or... I could download a virus into their networks.'_

_"Well on the one hand they could be good training, so long as they aren't so worthless as the two losers from before. On the other, it would get real annoying, real fast. Send the virus."_

_'Sending now.'_

Within minutes, the headquarters of Team Aqua, on an entirely different continent, would be plunged into absolute chaos. Rei closed down the pokedex and dipped a finger into the surf.

"Ah... a good day's work. Now, lets see the rest of this."

Ranma dumped the sack on the beach.

"'Kay, these look like elemental rocks. Wanna hang on to those. Spray on potions, we keep them... bottles of little pills? Sell those, I guess. That leaves us with... whatever the hell this crap is."

There was a distracting flash as Kirlia spontaneously evolved, doubling in size again, and not so coincidentally driving Ranma face-first into the ground with the sudden increase of weight on her shoulders.

"... Ow. Geddff."

Obediently, Gardevoir stood up, allowing Ranma to pry her head out of the face-shaped indentation in the sand, then knelt back down and began poking through the small pile of 'junk'.

"I don't suppose _you_ know what to do with any of that crap?" Ranma wondered aloud.

Almost in response, she began digging through the pile. The first thing out was an odd item that looked like someone had taken a set of night-vision goggles, painted them gold, and cut them in half. This went over an eye. Then was a little decorative bell on a fine chain, shaped like a tiny oyster with a pearl for a clapper, which was looped around a wrist. Then, Gardevoir grabbed two fistfuls of the leaves and tossed them into the air while spinning madly in place. Ranma sweatdropped at the display, and slight mental giggle.

"That... didn't answer any of my questions, and brought up a whole lot more."

_"Didn't you wish to visit the captain?"_

Ranma paused and considered. Her gaze swung to the freight in the harbor, to the pile of junk to sort through, and back to the freight again.

"Right. Junk later, fun now!"

Mentally Rei shook her head at how easy Ranma was to appease. It was the work of a moment to stuff most of the little trinkets back in the sack, and then to hide it beneath the docks. Gardevoir easily relenquished everything except the bell, and Ranma was easily convinced to let it keep it.

"Shall we?"

xxx

The captain's ears twitched slightly at a faint jingle, followed by a muffled thump. Not obviously peturbed, he took a long, slow sip of his tea, even as his hand tightened beneath the table.

The door was smashed open and he threw the tablecloth at the approaching blur, followed up by his drawing his saber and slashing through it in the same move.

The two halves drifted gently to the ground.

"So, they were right. You _are_ pretty good."

"You aren't authorized to be in here. Leave now."

Ranma chuckled and stepped out of the shadows behind the captain.

"Aw, don't be like _that_ Mr. Captain. We've only just started the fun!"

Ranma ducked under a slash that would have taken her head, hopped over a thrust for her vitals, and shot her legs out into an aerial split to avoid another slash. She landed gently on one foot and smirked.

"I'm thinking... you're just a little bit slower and weaker than Kuno. On the other hand, you aren't _that_ much slower or weaker, and you're a lot more willing to ignore the lines, forms and rules of 'civilized' swordplay. Heh. This is gonna be fu-"

Her pokedex started ringing.

"-un... Dammit. Hold on a moment will you?"

She flipped it open like a cell phone and her face fell.

"Oh. Boss. Hi. Look, I'm kinda... what? Right now? I'm sorta in the middle of something right... Uh-huh. Right now. Okay, sheesh, I get it. I'm going, I'm going."

She tucked the dex away and grimaced.

"Goddamn interfering wretched scumball assholes." She grumbled. "Look, something just came up, apparently, and I need to go. You gonna still be here for the next few days? Ah, never mind. If you aren't, I'll just track you down. I'll be seeing you 'round, Mr. Captain."

Ranma waved cheekily as Gardevoir teleported in with a slight jingle, grabbed her, and teleported out. The captain's head tilted slowly to the side.

"What..." he wondered, "... the hell just happened?"

xxx

Celia blinked as a grubby hand clapped down on her shoulder.

"Hey, girlie. Have I got a deal for you. I works at a Pokemon Breeder Ranch, see, and every so often they has me take one or two of the surplus and find a good trainer to sell them to, below cost. Good business, apparently, but I just do what I'm told. Now for you, I got's this Feebass here, one time offer of a thousand credits, take it or leave it."

"Uh..."

"Very rare, shipped a few eggs in from Hoenn, only tend to show themselves a few weeks out of the year. Skittish, you see."

"Er..."

"Course they're doing very well in captivity, else I wouldn't be offering this one to you."

"Ah..."

About five minutes later Celia stood alone, less a thousand credits, plus a pure white pokeball, and with the distinct feeling that she'd somehow been cheated.

xxx

A.N.

Poor Celia. Feebass is like a rarer Magikarp, but I wanted her to get one and evolve it into Milotic. So hence the con man.

Aside from that, Taro _will_ have a role to play. After all, I'm going to arbitrarily say that all Legendaries are at Lv. 100. Taro's ink trick will only work on them once each, they aren't _stupid_ after all, and at this point neither of them even knows which Legendary they should be looking for. Taro's current plan of 'beat them all up one by one' isn't going to work too well, yanno.

On the Hybrid issue... it's something I've seen recur several times as I stroll through the Pokemon section of FF net(and possibly elsewhere as well, though I'm still working through the trauma of _last_ time I looked elsewhere for inspiration for this fic). I'm thinking it's perfectly reasonable to add it in. And it just might end up being a future plot point. (Winks and smirks). Or maybe not. You'll have to guess at that.

Aaand to the dex.

Ranma-

Gardevoir, F (32)

Glaceon, F (S) (19)

Dratini, M (Leria) (22)

Rei-

Gardevoir, F (32)

Glaceon, F (S) (19)

Houndour, M (Demon) (18)

Celia-

Eevee, M (21)

Pidgeotto, F (20)

Clefairy, M (18)

Sandshrew, M (16)

Feebass, F (05)

As you've noticed, the 'level-up-aura' for lack of a better name, works even while the Pokemon are in their balls. Neat, huh?


	10. Testing, Part one

Wanderer

xxx

_"Kay. Just off the top of my head, in case Taro's actually on to something for once, there should be three legendary birds in Kanto. Zapdos was in the ruined power plant, east of Cerulean and north of Lavender."_

_'There is no mention of a ruined power plant. There is a _refurbished_ power plant in the location you describe, however.'_

_"... No mention of Zapdos sightings, I guess?"_

_'Not one.'_

_"Ah. Well shit. How about Moltres, in the Victory Road caves?"_

_'The caves apparently collapsed some decades ago. Now they are the Victory Road tunnel. Again, there is no mention of any recent sightings of Moltres.'_

_"How about the Seafoam Islands?"_

_'They sank during an earthquake.'_

_"Great. No Articuno either, then. Well, there's always Mewtwo... no, no wait, scratch that idea. Mewtwo's supposed to be something like half again as strong as it's supposed to be, and it was L. 70 in the first games. It could cream us in its sleep right now."_

_'Duly noted.'_

_"Well, I'm tapped out for information then. Your turn Rei."_

_'I've run a simple search for Legendaries. Apparently the Birds you describe have migrated to the Orre region. Sightings still place Mewtwo firmly in Kanto's boundaries. There are sightings of three Legendary Canines in random areas of Johto and Orre, and two more birds. Ho-oh and Lugia. Ho-oh appears to make its territory in Orre, and Lugia in Johto, but they seem to semi-regularly switch places and roam to other regions occasionally. There are rumors of three Legendary Golems in Hoenn somewhere, though all they are is rumors based on myth without any eyewitness accounts. There is, however, recorded documentation, video footage, and photographs of an incident some time ago involving the Legendaries Kyogre, Groudon, and Rayquaza. Apparently, the three have some level of control over the weather. Intriguing but not, I think, important to our goals. There are also occasional migratory sightings of Latios and Latias. Sinnoh region has quite a few Legendary sightings, as well as myths involving the Legendaries. Downloading a database of myths, legends, stories, folk tales, and campfire anecdotes now to be later inspected. Moving along, Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf have been sighted near certain lakes. Dialga and Palkia... interesting. Apparently they can control Time and Space respectively, to some degree. Rumors claim that they live in an alternate dimension, however, but counter-rumors claim that they can, and have, been both summoned to this one and visited on their own. It also seems that the only times they have been sighted together was while they attempted to kill each other. Heatran has been sighted occasionally within an active volcano. It doesn't seem to ever actually leave the magma, however. Regigigas... interesting. Apparently it will only show itself when the three Giants of Hoenn have been gathered. A collossal task, to be sure. Giratina supposedly has two forms, but the best rendition of them available is a crude sketch as, apparently, it does not appear in photographs or video feed. It seems to only appear in cemeteries. Places like Lavender's tower, before it was bought and converted to a radio tower, or Mt. Pyre of Hoenn. Cresselia and Darkrai appear to be virtual opposites. Darkrai will lull someone into slumber, then feed upon the nightmares it inflicts until Cresselia arrives to drive it away. On the other hand, aside from driving Darkrai away when it feeds, Cresselia has little to no contact with humans, while Darkrai seems to take a proprietary interest in the protection of the people within its chosen habitat. Then again, it could be argued that a farmer is, neccessarily, concerned with the health and welfare of his cattle. The matter is irrelevant, for the moment. Mew seems to have no fixed territory, as it has appeared in random places around the world. Celebi also seems to roam the world, but is most often sighted at a certain forest in Johto and a shrine in Orre. Jirachi apparently grants wishes to those who encounter it, but only reveals itself for a one week span every thousand years. Rather low odds. All the data on Manaphy and Phione is that they mosly consist of water. There are also photos, taken from a distance. Deoxys. Apparently it is the result of a virus from space that underwent extreme and rapid mutation upon exposure to a laser ray. I believe captain Katsuragi once played a video based upon such a concept. It was apparently quite terrifying. I do not understand why. Deoxys has four forms... a basic form, one focusing on attack, one on defense, and one on speed. Shaymin and Arceus are listed... but there doesn't appear to be much of any information on them."_

_'Gluugh...'_

_"Saotome?"_

_'You got all that... from just ten minutes on that laptop?'_

_"Yes. And?"_

_'Just ten minutes?'_

_"..."_

Just_ ten minutes?'_

Saotome appeared to be in shock, Rei noted. A quick jolt of mental electricity fixed that.

_'Gyananaa! Bleh... Y'know sooner or later you're gonna fry my mind completely, and then where will you be.'_

_"I'm sure it won't be _too_ much different than what I am forced to put up with now."_

_'Ouch. That hurts, you know. Stabbed right in the heart.'_

_"Cease your melodrama, Saotome. The transport will be arriving any moment, and they will not expect me to be the one leaving it. I'm sure you already understand that quasi-legal organizations tend not to react favorably to things they do not expect."_

Moments later, Ranma tugged a small length of cord out of her pocket and quickly tied her hair into a loose braid. Then turned her head. Gardevoir was snoring softly, face pressed into her side and arms wrapped around her midriff. In all honesty, Ranma couldn't blame her... unconsciousness didn't exactly qualify as real sleep either, and neither of them had slept in some time. Even so... Ranma nudged her gently.

"Hey... hey, wake up. We're here. Wake up. All right then... have it your way."

Gardevoir disappeared into its pokeball with a flash of red light.

xxx

Four transports shimmered into view one by one, the trips having been timed exactingly. There was a slight hiss of hydraulics as the doors swung open allowing their passengers out. Three were solemn and silent, doing their best to give off the perfect professional image that would finalize their promotion. The fourth... not so much.

"Hey, Jin! I see you got them bandages off you."

Jin, who'd been appointed examiner for this test despite his vehement argument that he simply couldn't spare the time away from the breeding center, let loose a heavy sigh.

"Miss Saotome. Dare I ask how...? No, no. It would surely be too much of a toll upon my fragile mind."

"Oh, don't be like _that_ old man. I mean, yeah, Team Aqua is gonna be really, really angry with me if they ever figure out I was behind it, but that's no reason to be _snide_."

Jin lasted a full fifteen seconds of awkward silence before he broke under Ranma's smug grin.

"So... what exactly _were_ you-"

"Nuh-uh-uh! Can't talk about it old man. It's a Se-C-Ret!"

"You take a _fiendish_ delight in infuriating a poor old man. Nevertheless..." Jin's tone shifted, becoming the barked commands of a drill sergeant having a bad day. "Stand up straight! Chin up, chest out, shoulders back, eyes forward! Now... You are here because, for some unfathomable reason or another, one of the few people worth anything at all in the upper echelons of our organization has seen something valuable in your worthless hides. And so they've sent you to me, to find out if you're worth investing a promotion in. Maybe their right. Maybe you're all diamonds in the rough, waiting for a good polish to show your true value. On the other hand, and far more likely, it could be that you're just a few specks of glittery sand lodged in a clod of dirt. Clod! That's a good word. From now on I'll be referring to you idiots as 'Clods'. Does anyone have any... _objections_?"

Ranma's wide grin twisted somewhat, but nobody spoke up.

"Good. Now then Clods, listen close. This test will be exhausting, both physically _and_ mentally. Though I sincerely doubt that it would take much to tax your feeble minds. You will, by the end of the day, be in such physical and mental stress that I doubt you shall have the energy or the inclination to do so much as to make a halfhearted, feeble attempt to wipe the combination of sweat, muck, and grime from your eyes before you collapse into the facilities that will be assigned to you. I assure you that we have taken this into account, which is why at the end of the day you will find no more than a plasticized hammock, which you will be able to easily rinse off in the morning while you cleanse yourself with a hose. Your _comfort_ is not our concern, I'm afraid."

Jin sneered with disgust before continuing.

"An operative must be a qualified pokemon battler, but they must _also_ be physically able and capable of fighting with their own body, in case of situations where your Pokemon may not be able to aid you. You will be tested in both regards. An operative must be capable of diplomacy, and capable of making polite small talk without revealing unneccessary information."

Jin stared directly at Ranma for a moment, to get his point across.

"You will be tested in both regards. An operative must be capable of quietly infiltrating structures without being detected, of retrieving neccessary data, of then escaping the structures, and of detecting infiltrators within our own structures. And.." Jin said slowly, making eye contact with all the promotion hopefuls there. "... In the case that you _are_ captured by a rival or enemy organization... an operative is required to have at least some small ability in resisting interrogation. I warn you clods now that you will be tested in _all_ these regards."

Ranma's jaw had set mulishly, but that was the only outward reaction she gave, even as the other three hopefuls went wide-eyed and pale to varying degrees.

"Now then. If any of you clods feel that you might not want to attempt to gain a promotion after all... those transports behind you will be leaving in ten minutes. I would advise you to be on them as once they've left, you won't be leaving the island until after _all_ the testing is complete. This is not a game, Gentlemen. And Ladies." He added almost as an afterthought. "This will be in no way 'fun'. In fact for most of the clods that pass through here, it's the single worst experience of their entire, pathetic lives. Your little friends won't think any less of you if you choose to back out now. You can spin the decision to leave any way you please, and I won't bother to contradict you. Perhaps you've suddenly realized that you left the stove in your apartment running, or forgot to unplug your refrigerator, or you'll have more time to go to your little parties as a Grunt. Seven minutes, Clods... and counting."

There was no clock in the room, but as Jin pulled up his sleeve to stare at his watch, there seemed an ominous echo of ticking in the silence. You could almost count the seconds pass. Ten seconds. Twenty. Thirty. Forty five. Sixty. One hundred twenty seconds. Two hundred forty. At almost three hundred seconds to the dot, one of the other three promotion hopefuls turned on his heel and marched back to the transport he'd came in on. Ranma wasn't really surprised. Despite having long, curly, blonde hair, he'd reminded her faintly of Kuno.

"Two minutes left, Miss Saotome. If you think you might pass because I'll show you favoritism, I'd suggest you get back on that transport. No matter how amusing or physically attractive you may be, I'll still be grading you just as harshly as anyone else."

Ranma arched an eyebrow to cover her suprise at the sudden whisper. How had he snuck up on her?

"You under-estimate me, Jin. I'll lay you a wager... fifty thousand credits against an egg of my choice, that I'll score the highest on this... test."

Jin stared cooly at her for a moment before answering.

"Wager accepted. Although I _do_ hope that you can back up your bet when you lose. I'm a _very_ old man, you see, and it would be a lot of trouble for me to collect on fifty thousand credits worth of... other tender."

She frowned as Jin stalked to the next promotion candidate, a guy who reminded her vaguely of Gos in a modified shrine-priest outfit.

_"Waaaait a minute... Did he just imply what I think he just implied?"_

_'Calm yourself, Saotome. This is neither the time nor the place for an outburst. Keep in mind several points. First, Jin is an _old_ man. Through our combined experiences it should be obvious that men grow more perverse with age. They cannot help it. You are spared this only through mitigating circumstances. No offense to yourself, of course.'_

_"None taken, you got a point."_

_'Second, Jin is unaware of your unique circumstance. Either of your originally being male, or that you can now easily afford such a large wager. He assumed you were bluffing, and has called it. No, my apologies... I'd forgotten your difficulty with card games. In a manner you should understand more easily... He assumed you were throwing a feint, and moved to counter what he expects to be the real blow.'_

_"Oh. I guess that makes sense."_

_'Third... I don't mean to be insulting, but you don't seem to have any feminine sensibilities whatsoever. You try to act male, despite your female body, it doesn't work quite right, and you end up seeming something of a...'_

"The transports are leaving now. Given that the three of you are still here, I take it that you are certain about trying for a promotion. Very well then. Make your way to the arena, I'm sure you can see it from here. Feel free to introduce yourself to one another. In the unlikely event of all of you passing the requirements of promotion, you will doubtless be assigned many jobs together. Shared suffering forging an unbreakable bond of brotherhood or some similarly trite rubbish. Well? Don't just stand there, you bunch of incompetent nimrods."

xxx

The walk was quiet, each of the trio doing their best to politely size up the other two. Aside from Ranma they weren't having much luck, mainly because there wasn't much to distinguish one pokeball from another and no way at all of telling what was inside one. Ranma, though, was assessing their combat potential. It was frankly minimal at best. Eventually though, she took pity on the other two and broke the silence.

"So... as you may or may not have overheard, I'm Ranma Saotome. Pleased to meetcha. I don't really have a fixed specialty. I guess you could call me a Jack-of-all-trades."

"Isn't the term 'Jill', if you're a girl?" The gosunkugi look-alike wondered out loud. The smile faded from Ranma's face.

"No. _Jack_ of all trades."

"Well if you insist..."

"I _do_. Let's just leave it at that, alright." She forced a smile back on her face. "Your turn, pale, drawn, and insomniac."

"Oh? Very well. My name is Kaoru... please use it, and I think that we can safely bypass all the usual remarks about that typically being a girl's name. I specialize in ghost and fire types, although..." He paused and lowered his voice. "I do also have one noncombatant normal type that I'm trying to focus on teaching healing techniques."

"Like the Joys and their Chansey?" Ranma asked aloud, recieving only a quiet half-smile in return. The two of them swung their heads as one to the final member of the little trio, a mousy looking woman with big glasses who seemed quite horrified to find herself put on the spot.

"Eh... ah... Bellatrix."

_Both_ of Ranma's eyebrows shot to her hairline as the woman's gaze swung directly to her feet.

"Reeally... Because you know... and don't take this the wrong way, but you don't exactly _look_ like a 'Lady warrior'."

"You speak latin?"

"Hell no. I do have a friend that turns out to be a hell of a well of information when neccessary though."

_'I'll take that as a complement, Saotome.'_

"Oh. Um... I specialize, sort of, in... well... I'm not very good with strategy, you see, so I sort of focus on things that make the fight easier. Poisoning the opponent, or paralyzing it... things like that."

"Ah... Status ailments." Ranma muttered under her breath. "And I gotta wonder just where you got your definition of 'strategy' from, because... to me? That sounds like a pretty damn good one."

"W-well, you see..." She said, flushing lightly at the praise. "My family tends to train fighting-types only as a rule so... I was sort of always the odd duck. And most of my family would call anything except a straight battle out in the open unfair, or cheating, and so..."

"Re-lax Bell. We get it... _don't we_ Kaoru."

"Hn? Oh... yeah... sure."

"Y'see? Besides, you're going to have to learn that in this line of work, the only unfair advantage is one that you _don't_ have. Or alternatively, that it's only cheating when someone else does it. 'Sides that... anything goes."

xxx

"All right, Clods. Now that you're here I'd assume that you've all scoped each other out pretty well for the battles between yourselves. Which won't be happening. Instead, you will be facing a group of randomly selected pokemon. Unless, of course, you were foolish enough to reveal any obvious weaknesses while wearing the bugs I planted on each of you, in which case you will be facing a set of pokemon selected to take advantage of those weaknesses."

"You mean... like these bugs, maybe?"

Ranma held out a handful of crushed and mutilated electrical transmitters. Jin almost started to frown before catching himself.

"Hate to break it to you old man, but your sneaky hands? They kinda... weren't that sneaky. Although these two didn't seem to notice either when they were bugged, or when I nipped the bugs off of em."

Indeed, even as Ranma shook the destroyed equipment, the other two were subtly glancing down at themselves, as though wondering where the bugs had been placed. Or maybe it was just why they hadn't noticed when they were removed.

"Just... get in there. Miss Bellatrix, you fight first."

Jin waited a few moments before reaching up and tapping a hidden microphone in the collar of his lab coat.

"Control... increase candidate Saotome's testing difficulty by three levels."

He might _like_ the girl, but he was quite serious about his job. She demonstrated higher capability than the other candidates, and so she would be tested more harshly than them.

Besides... he fully intended to win their little bet. And like it said in the Rocket handbook, rule 37- 'When In Doubt, Cheat'.

xxx

"You know, aside from her little self-confidence thing, she's actually pretty good."

Kaoru nodded, watching the arena as Bell's Arbok exploded upward from where it had tunneled under the ground, biting deeply into the last remaining enemy Pokemon and injecting poison before slithering away, keeping just out of reach of the slowing Primeape to give the poison time to take effect. After a few moments, it dropped. Bell withdrew her Arbok and the robotic machine at the other end of the field did likewise, then deposited the red and white ball in a tray that slid out and back in again.

"And she's done." Kaoru murmured. "I wonder how she'll score? She did quite well, but a couple of her pokemon were knocked out before she could quite get into her stride. They'll probably knock off points for that. Ah, well... my turn. Wish me luck."

"_Technically..._" Ranma drawled " You aren't going to be the one fighting yet. So I'll wish your Pokemon luck instead."

Kaoru half-pouted as he went down the stairs. After a few moments, he stepped into the arena. Bell hadn't come back up to this room. Ranma pondered that as she released Gardevoir. Who was... still asleep. Well that wouldn't do at all. She had no idea how long Kaoru would take down there, but it wouldn't be _too_ long, she assumed. And look... a perfectly good sink, right there.

Moments later, Gardevoir had opened one red eye to balefully glare at Ranma. The effect was somewhat hampered by the fact that her soggy hair was seperating into individual threads and drooping rather than retaining its stiff, helmet-like appearance.

"Rise and Shi-ine, sleeping beauty."

There was a bellow of rage from the arena, followed by an explosion. Apparently Kaoru was _much_ more straighforward with his battle plans. Gardevoir rose and casually tapped her way past Ranma as though she didn't exist.

"... Ouch. Cold shoulder, I see. Oh, don't be like _that_..."

_"You must admit that you did not choose the most polite manner of awakening available. Some degree of disgruntlement is to be expected."_

"Sheesh." Ranma muttered. "Everyone's teaming up on me. I feel so... unloved, you know?"

_"I assure you that there is quite a good reason for that sentiment."_

Ranma feigned pouting to a mental giggle.

"Fine. Next time I won't _bother_ to wake you up before the fight starts. Speaking of which..." Ranma glanced down into the arena and winced. "Ouch. Damn, but that's brutal... I wouldn't have expected it from a guy that looks like Gos."

In the arena, Kaoru's Blaziken was kicking the shit out of a Tropius selected by the computer. It was more than fast enough to dodge most of the attacks sent its way, and the damage its fiery attacks did on the grass type was adding up. What was surprising, though, was the way Kaoru kept ordering it to attack the weak points, its eyes and leafy wings. That was a good bit more vicious than Ranma had expected.

_"Speaking of which, have you considered a strategy for our test?"_

"Oh, I'll just improvise. It's what I'm good at."

The Blaziken in the arena finished off it's opponent with a point-blank flamethrower. It would survive, given prompt medical assistance, but it wouldn't be doing much of anything for some time to come.

Then the machine at the other end of the arena began giving off thick clouds of smoke.

xxx

Jin stalked quickly into the arena to run a quick diagnostic of the equipment. Stupid robotics. It never failed... machinery _always_ broke exactly when you needed it the most.

"Don't just stand there you halfwit! Get me a spanner, a flat head screwdriver, and a set of needlenose pliers, and I might be able to patch this up before-"

Something blew inside the machine, loud enough to be clearly heard where Ranma was watching.

"... So..." Kaoru ventured, after a moment of silence. "Did I pass?"

Jin's glower was horrifying to behold.

"_Barely_... now haul this load of junk out of here. I'll handle miss Saotome's testing _myself_."

Jin's voice rose with the second sentence, and by the time Kaoru's Blaziken manhandled the dead metal out of the arena, Ranma was already halfway down the stairs.

"... I must apologize, miss Saotome. You see, there is no possible way you can beat me. Don't worry too much about it, though... your score will instead be based on how long you last in a one on one match."

"Oh? I think you're underestimating me."

"It's no underestimation!" Jin barked, removing a shrunken pokeball from a hidden pocket in his sleeve. "Just simple fact. Gengar! We're going to teach this little girl some much-needed humility."

"Old men like you should take it easy, you're gonna miss your afternoon nap at this rate! Gardevoir, this time you'll be going all out. Show him why we aren't to be underestimated!"

Gardevoir stepped forward with her eyes half-closed, then snapped them open to stare directly at the Gengar materializing out of the red light at the other end of the arena. It leered back in return. Jin snapped his fingers.

"Begin."

Instantly, a dozen shadow balls flickered into life around Gengar. Ranma's eyes widened.

"Dance of gentle breezes! You can't be hit if you aren't where the attacks land!"

Ranma winced at the triteness of her statement. That had... sounded a lot better in her head.

_"Actually, no. It didn't. Trust me on that."_

... _STILL_, despite the stupidity of her comment, and the fact that she had made up the name off the top of her head with no prior preparation whatsoever, Gardevoir had, once again, tugged the correct meaning from her mind without really bothering to listen to what she was saying. Jin's eyebrow arched as she began weaving from side to side like a sapling in a strong gale, _just barely_ far enough each time to dodge the shadow balls that Gengar was lobbing lazily at it like water balloons.

"I think that's enough of a warm up Gengar. Put a little 'oomph' into it."

Gengar's eyes flashed and it launched all its remaining balls at once before slamming its hands together, gathering energy. This time when the solitary shadow ball formed it was more than twice as large as any of the others, and pulsing rapidly. When it was fired off it only went at about half the normal speed as well, but it grew rapidly.

"Gardevoir, get out of there! Up, up!"

Gardevoir tensed and shot up, the power in her legs aided by no small amount of telekinetic force. The super-powered shadow ball hit the ground where she'd been standing and exploded outward violently, but her leap had managed to clear the danger zone and she used the opportunity to launch a shadow ball of her own back at the Gengar before dropping back down to land in the crater.

It didn't even bother to dodge, just took the blow and shrugged it off like she'd done no more than thrown a handful of mud at it.

"Your pokemon is quite clever. Usually Ghost types such as Gengar are weak to Ghost type attacks, much like how Dragon types are weak to Dragon attacks. Unfortunately, I've trained Gengar to the point where he can withstand all his types obvious weaknesses. And Ghost type attacks are also effective against Psychics. It can dodge all it wants, if even one hit strikes, then it's all over for you. You should have taken a moment to consider your selection in a bit more depth."

"Do you think you can make me second guess myself? Gardevoir, Flowing Battledance! Like the quiet river with hidden undertow!"

_"If you would _kindly_ stop trying to sound like the wizened sensei from a cheezy martial arts drama with half-rate special effects?"_

_'Hey! I resent that... my special effects are top of the line!"_

_"Don't... Don't try to make snappy comebacks. Just don't."_

Jin's eyes had narrowed as Gardevoir switched 'dances' from fully defensive to an even mix of defense and offence.

"You aren't the only one who can give your commands in code, girl! Gengar, Upsen Downs!"

Gengar lifted a stubby arm, launching a superpowered shadow ball straight up in the air. It stopped near the ceiling and began pulsing rapidly before bulging downwards and erupting into a hailstorm of dark spheres.

_"He's keeping her on the run, Saotome. So long as she's entirely focused on dodging, it can attack without worrying about any countermeasures."_

_'Tell me something I _don't_ know, why don't you?'_

_"Your improvisation doesn't seem to be working out."_

_'Shut up and let me think!'_

A wave of foreign irritation washed over them as Gardevoir's mental link flared and tripled in size, slamming thousands of chilly tendrils into their brain as she searched for anything in their memories that might help with the current situation. Ranma's eyes crossed as she wobbled and fought to keep from falling over.

After a moment, it ended, sending an unpleasant spasm down their spine.

_'Daaah... That was like an ice cream headache... only... times like a million.'_

_"We're still alive?"_

_'I think so...'_

_"Ah. Well that's... good, I suppose. Remind me later to think up an appropriate punishment. Good night, Saotome."_

There was an internal sound much like someone falling down, complete with a little 'clunk' at the end of a skull bouncing off something hard. Ranma blinked several times to clear the unpleasant fog from her eyes. Right now was _not_ a good time to pass out.

In the meantime, Gardevoir's battle-plan had shifted radically. Instead of dancing around the hailstorm of malevolent energy, she'd fired a quick shadow ball of her own, then gathered and launched a crackling lightning bolt. Gengar hopped backwards and the two connected where it had been standing.

What neither Gengar nor Jin could see from that angle, however, was how Gardevoir had shot forwards into the explosion, accepting the minor electrical burns and ghostly damage for the sake of surprise. By the time Gengar could see her again, she'd gathered and shaped two short 'blades' out of pure psychokinetic energy and there wasn't enough time for it to put up any form of defense.

"Furious Battledance!" Ranma choked out in the vain effort to create the illusion that she was even _slightly_ in control of the current situation.

The battle had apparently completely inverted itself as now Gengar was the one doing its best to dodge the rapid strikes... and failing, as it was nowhere near so agile as Gardevoir. Hit after hit landed, only scratching lightly at the spectre but quickly adding up. Every time it tried to counterattack, it left its guard open for deeper, more painful cuts that quickly nixed its battle plans and sent it back on the defensive. After this cycle became apparrent, it glowered and steeled itself, taking the next blow in exchange for a moment to gather power. A concussive wave of force blasted outward in every direction, just as Jin's watch started ringing.

"Time!"

Gardevoir landed gracefully, then dropped to her knees in exhaustion. Jin pressed a button on his watch and the annoying ringtone ceased.

"Well? Be off with you... there's a healing station down the hall and the next stage of your testing will be held in the gym. I trust you'll have no difficulty finding either."

As Ranma left, supporting the exhausted Gardevoir, Jin removed a clipboard and began scribbling on the form. After a moment, he turned his head to Gengar and quirked an eyebrow.

"You're not fooling anyone, you know."

Gengar huffed and allowed it's wounds to flicker into visibility, emitting trails of faint, purple smoke. Jin sighed.

"Perhaps we're just getting too old for this sort of thing."

"I had her on the ropes." Gengar growled in echoey tones that seemed to rumble from a deep chasm, or the bottom of a dry well. "Thirty more seconds, and the little psychic would have been out of tricks and at my mercy."

Jin quirked an eyebrow.

"And yet... twenty years ago, you would have finished her off in the _first_ thirty seconds despite that you were only a quarter so powerful as you are now. You underestimated her, as did I."

"Perhaps. Do you have a point?"

"Not really. I simply wished to remark upon just how long it's been since we both erred in judgement so vastly. Gengar, return."

As Gengar dissolved into red light, Jin turned back to his clipboard and flipped to the scores for this section of testing.

"Candidate Saotome." He mumbled. "You've earned an 'A'. Let's see if you do so well with the _rest_ of the testing."

xxx

A.N.

And the testing is underway. This segment was actually supposed to all be covered in the same chapter, but it kept drawing further and further out and, well, that was just such a _good_ place to stop. Also, before anyone gets on my case about Gengar's verbosity at the end, there _is_ precedent for ghost-type speech! In the episode 'The Ghost of Maiden's Peak' the gastly featured is perfectly capable of talking. It also ended up kicking all sorts of ass and only left because it felt like it. One of the few episodes that didn't suck, in my opinion.

You'll note that Ranma and Rei are a bit snarkier towards each other this chapter. That'll probably cool down a bit as they work together to punish Gardevoir properly for the 'Ice-cream headache of DOOM'. I'm going to have _so_ much fun with that scene.


	11. Testing, Part two

Wanderer

xxx

The machine had six insets for pokeballs to be placed in, only one of which was occupied, a keyboard and small, inset screen, and lots and lots of bright, flashy, distracting lights that seemed to serve no purpose whatsoever. Rei was still out of it, and Ranma wasn't too sure of her chances of properly operating this delicate machinery. She was the Brawn to Rei's Brain, and frankly, she was happy that way.

Thankfully, the lady she'd found sitting in the attached control seat while chewing gum and flipping through a magazine had neatly solved a potentially serious problem.

"Y'know, I'm not sure why, but I was... surprised to see you here, Nurse... Eh, _Doctor_ Joy. 'Scuze my slip-up"

"Don' w'rry 'bout it." She mumbled around a mouthful of gum. "Mos' 'f th' fam'ly neve' botha t' try an' get pas' N'rs'."

She frowned and spat the pink blob into a wastebasket.

"It was running out of flavor anyway. Like I said, most of the family never bother to try to advance past one form of nursing or another. You wouldn't guess it, but they're very traditional... big on women only being allowed certain roles. Of course, I've alway's been something of a black sheep, myself."

Ranma glanced quickly over her, from her short cropped pink spikes, to her facial tattoo, to her piercings, to her outfit, an all-black ensemble with a silver cross embroidered over the left breast pocket, and _very_ briefly at her choice of reading material which, it should be pointed out, had absolutely nothing to do with medical practices or equipment whatsoever.

"I never would have guessed..." Ranma drawled. "So... how's that working out for you?"

"Well... I always did want to be a doctor."

"I think I hear a 'but' coming on..."

"Oh, a perceptive one, I see. Yes, there's a 'but'... I suppose I should have been more careful when I looked through applications for positions. I thought I was getting a good deal... my position has me 'technically' pulling down two paychecks. One from the League, and one from the Rocket organization's coffers."

"That... sounds like a pretty good deal to me, too. Two doctor grade paychecks-"

Joy waved a hand to interrupt Ranma.

"But you see, that was the problem, and why the position hadn't been filled before. Neither the League or our esteemed Administrators were willing to fork over such a large chunk of cash to someone they _knew_ was going to be recieving two checks. And, as it turned out, because of some fine print I missed in the contract, I ended up making a total of about half what I would have made anywhere else."

Ranma winced in a combination of sympathy and the wariness of someone who expects a request for a loan at a near date.

"Of course, that wouldn't have been too much of a problem, except..."

"Except?" Ranma prodded, full of the fascination to be found in people watching a train wreck from ground zero.

"Well, half of a doctors salary is still enough to live on, you know? It wouldn't really have been _too_ much of a problem... If, of course, I hadn't made a couple of large purchases with money I didn't realize at the time that I didn't actually have." Joy paused, seeming to consider something for a moment before continuing. "And to make a long story short, that's why I ended up picking up my other part-time job."

Joy tugged out a stick of gum from her blouse and showed no inclination whatsoever to continue talking as she flipped rapidly through her magazine. It didn't take Ranma long to break under the silence.

"So, um," _flipflipflip_ "This 'other job'..." _flipflipflip_ "That would be...?"

"Here we are."

Doctor Joy turned the magazine around. Ranma stared, more than a hint of red rising on her cheeks, but not really comprehending what she saw for several moments, until... then she didn't even register moving, but suddenly was several feet further away and stammering.

"I-uh-I-uh... I-Isn't that illegal?"

"That all depends on a number of factors. Where exactly you are at the time, the date, your eye color, which letter the second consonant of your name is, and a whole lot of other nitpicky details. But officials aren't exactly inclined to look too deeply into the details of what Rockets do in their free time. One of those little unofficial agreements between the league and the organization."

"Uh... well... I guess if that's what you enjoy..."

"Enj...? Oh, no, you have the wrong idea. It's just a job like any other. Pays almost infinitely better for much less actual work, too."

The bit of Ranma's mind that matched up with Genma's values was enraptured for a moment by this last sentence, until the rest of it reminded her of just _exactly_ what she had almost begun to consider. After which there was a good deal of mental shuddering.

The machine chimed and some of the lights turned off. Which wasn't really noticable as other lights had turned _on_ to cover their absence and the chime itself was hidden behind the constantly playing, soft elevator music. It was like the people who had designed the blasted thing had gone out of their way to make it as outrageously difficult to use as possible. Or even to comprehend. Nevertheless, that tiny, out of key chime obviously meant _something_, as Doctor Joy immediately set down the magazine, turned, and plucked Gardevoir's pokeball out of the tray.

"That took a bit longer than I expected. Then again, ghost type damage often isn't visible in spectrums that can be seen naturally, which is why it's best to have your pokemon checked out right away after battles that involve ghost type pokemon or techniques. Due to..."

Ranma just nodded at the switch between friendly chatter and what she recognized to be a professional lecture. And actually, it was slightly interesting, as she _hadn't_ known that before hand.

"... bi-dimensional quad-phase neotranspheric..."

Of course, there were times to just smile and nod, even as your eyes glazed over and smoke began to curl out of your ears. Now, she decided, was one of those times.

The lecture lasted a full minute and a half, after which Ranma was almost certain that her brain had melted from stress and begun to seep out her ears and was ready to take any available opportunity to quietly escape.

Joy's monologue ran down to a close. She paused and waved a hand in front of Ranma's face. She was still nodding, staring vacantly into a patch of empty air, and showed no reaction to the stimulus whatsoever. A tap to the side of her head likewise provoked no response. Joy smirked. Complete brainfry... she still had it. She withdrew a clipboard.

"If you could sign here, before you go?"

Normally, warning bells would be blaring in Ranma's head at this, due to a combination of Genma and Nabiki's machinations. Failing that, Rei would be issuing stern warnings, with or without a healthy jolt of pain. However, Rei was still unconscious, and the combination of lack of sleep and the lecture that left her feeling like her brain had been removed, tossed in a blender for ten minutes, and poured back in had left Ranma temporarily... rather placid and sheeplike.

So as she staggered off like a confused zombie, Joy smiled at the signature she'd quietly scribbled down.

xxx

"Ah... you're finally here, I see. Good, good... this old bat wouldn't let us start the next test until we were all here."

THWACK!

For some reason, Ranma felt a profound sense of Deja Vu as the bent old lady walloped Kaoru over the head with a walking stick.

"Insolent child! Do not think that age has made my ears any less sharp! For that, you shall be fighting first, to knockout. It shouldn't take too long. Choose any weapon you wish from the rack, then step into the ring. Or fight bare-handed, if you prefer."

"Bare hands? Against a Hariyama? Are you out of your mind, crone?"

THWACK!

"Tired I grow of your voice. Grating upon my nerves, it is. Get moving or I'll fail your ass right now, boyo."

"'M going, I'm going... sheesh. Evil old woman."

Kaoru took a few moments to choose a weapon, but then it _was_ a very big rack. He had a lot of weapons to choose from, and obviously had no idea what he was doing. Ranma shook her head sadly as he finally selected a replication of a morningstar, a heavy wooden sphere chained to a handle.

"That did it right there... he's going to fail this test."

"Um... H-how can you be so sure?"

"Look closely, Bell. You see how he's straining? It's not much, but it's visible. He can swing that thing around easily enough _now_, but after two or three swings? It's too heavy for him, and it'll only feel heavier as time passes. He also doesn't seem to understand the purpose of this test. He's not expected to win. Would you expect someone to face off against a fighting type and win?"

Bell shook her head, then blinked.

"But-"

"They're just going to see how long he can last. _That's_ the test. And after a minute, two at most, of swinging that thing around he's going to either drop it or slow down enough that he cant dodge any more and then _wham_."

Bellatrix winced as Ranma slapped a fist in her hand, then turned slightly thoughtful.

"Of course, if he's been antagonizing the old woman the whole time, its entirely possible that he could be slightly concussed. That would effect his judgement somewhat, so they'll probably take it into account."

"Hajime!"

The Hariyama fought very much like a sumo wrestler, Ranma noted. And just as she'd predicted, it was barely a minute later that the morningstar, grip slick with sweat, flew completely out of Kaoru's hands... leaving him defenseless in the face of the huge pokemon barrelling down on him.

As Kaoru slid slowly down the wall he'd impacted with, the old woman scribbled something on her paper that looked suspiciously like an 'F'. Then she tapped at one of the pokeballs set in his belt, releasing Kaoru's Blaziken.

"Drag that idiot to the infirmary, would you?" She tossed a piece of paper at it, presumably a map, and then turned away as it hefted its master over a shoulder.

"Right, next is... you. Yes, you."

Ranma patted Bell on the shoulder in reassurance. It looked like she was about to have a heart attack.

"Hey, don't worry. Just make sure you pick something that won't tire you out. I'm not really seeing you blocking anything that lummox can bring to bear, so dodging is the way to go. Remember, I don't think they expect you to win... just try to last as long as you can."

Bellatrix nodded shakily before standing and heading to the rack. She stood there for a moment before hesitantly choosing... Ranma's eyebrows arched. A wooden rapier, complete with the fancy hand guard. And she held it like she knew how to use it, despite her hesitancy. Well, you learned something new about people every day. But that hesitancy was going to cost her.

And Ranma was proven right again as, while she fought decently well for the most part, Bell had a tendency to come to a full stop for a moment before thrusting. Her opponent swiftly took the opportunity to take advantage of that weakness, after assuring itself that it wasn't a trap, sidestepping and countering her attack in the same motion.

Ranma's arm shot out to the side, snapping closed around Bell's collar and slowing her to a halt just short of the wall. She'd have done the same for Kaoru except... meh. He was a guy. He could deal with it himself.

"Your turn, redhead. To a ring-out this time, if you would."

Ranma took a moment to select her weapon before carting it to the ring.

"Miss Saotome... a joker to the end, just like your file has it. I'll enjoy watching this."

"And well you should, old woman!" Ranma snapped back, swinging the mop wildly. "The Janitorial battle techniques I shall reveal to you now have been the secret terror and downfall of _nations_!"

A pulsing vein rose on the foreheads of both the old woman and her opponent.

"Hariyama." She muttered darkly. "Scrub the floor with this idiot girl's _face_."

"Ha! Shall we begin then? Special maneuver- 'Mind Your Step'!"

Ranma positively danced around the slow, but powerful attacks as she ran the mop over the floor, leaving it a patchwork of spots safe to stand on and slippery patches of sudsy water. It was only a few moments before the Hariyama put a foot wrong and came down heavily on its side.

"Caution, sir... floors are slippery when wet."

The Hariyama punched the floor as it rose, sending a spiderweb of cracks radiating outwards from the impact point. Then it leapt into the air, planning to come down hard with both fists. Ranma smirked and held her ground to the last possible moment, then ducked beneath and behind the descending avalanche of flesh and thrust backwards with the mop.

The off-balance behemoth toppled over to land with a thud... outside the ring. The old woman glowered as she recalled it, fading into red light and into a pokeball as she scribbled something on her cliboard.

"You're done here. Get out of my sight... both of you." She spat.

xxx

"Th-that... that was amazing! Y-you won... Against a pokemon! B-but... y-you said..."

"I didn't say it was _impossible_ to win... I just said they didn't _expect_ you to win. If the old woman had made the match to knockout, then things could have gone much differently."

Bell nodded, accepting that for the moment. And it wasn't strictly a lie either... Ranma would have had to pull out all the stops to win in that case. For a ring-out, she'd only had to be tricky. Technically, anyone with an average level of martial arts training could have done the same.

Well... average for a Nerima resident, anyway.

"The trick was getting it mad. Once it was mad, it stopped paying attention to where the lines on the floor were, and focused entirely on trying to hit me. So all I had to do was keep from getting hit, while remaining in the ring myself, and wait for the right time to strike. I expected it to take much longer, really..."

"F-fighting types are prone to hot tempers, making them easier to enrage than other types."

Ranma blinked at Bellatrix, whose gaze reliably turned down to somewhere around the floor.

"Well... I suppose you'd be the one to know, Bell. Would you say that that's a rule for _all_ fighting-types, though?"

"Oh, of c-course not... Meditite, for instance, is very restrained, as is its evolution. Theoretically, that would be because of its partial psychic affinity, but..."

Ranma nodded absently to herself as Bell's anxiety at putting herself forward faded away as she chewed Ranma's ear off.

"Of course, there are other type combinations too, like-"

"-My Blaziken, for instance, which is a combination fighting and fire type... making it somewhat _more_ prone to hot rages, if I dare say."

Ranma cooly glared at Kaoru as Bell shrunk back in on herself. He blinked and scratched at the bandages around his skull.

"What did I say...?"

Ranma ignored him, focusing instead on the soft groaning beginning to issue from the depths of her skull. It sounded like Rei was starting to come to. Good.

"So... what's the next test?"

"Infiltration and data retrieval. They'll give us the specifics when we get there."

xxx

Taro let loose a loud, deep, bovine howl of pain as the electricity crackled over the entirety of his monster form, but forced himself to keep a firm grip on the Legendary with his tentacles as he swung his gigantic fists. He had to either knock it out, or daze it enough that it wouldn't follow him to continue the battle.

Zapdos had been a dead end. It was powerful, yes, but its focus was on something that was useless in his eyes. Storms and lightning wouldn't get him back home. On top of that, it couldn't communicate, so he couldn't even question it for information. If he was anyone else, he would have begun to reconsider going off half-cocked and only having a vague idea of what he was looking for.

Then again, Pantsutso Taro's idea of a good plan was to slap another curse onto his rapidly growing list and hope they combined in a useful way... so it was probably a good thing that he'd decided to forego the planning stage.

Zapdos stabbed its beak into one of the restraining tentacles, sending it into an uncontrollable spasm and loosening Taro's grip enough that it could wriggle free. Taro groaned mentally as it flapped its way back out of his reach and began to gather electricity from the clouds around them for its next attack.

He just hoped that Saotome was having as miserable a time as he was.

xxx

Ranma's nose tickled, and she quickly pinched it shut, muffling the sudden and unexpected sneeze.

Whew... that had been close. The guard, grumbling about carting his paintball gun around, passed by and she slipped out of the alcove.

This was a nice building. Built with lots of extra rooms, completely silent sliding doors, pillars that served only aesthetic purposes at best, and statues set in dark nooks and crannies that one could easily hide behind.

Frankly, it would be disgustingly pathetic if she slipped up and was caught robbing such a place. Despite the fact that she was seriously out of practice.

She dodged another two guards, carefully made her way past a set of infrared beams, and slipped into the room where the information she had to retrieve was being kept.

On a computer, naturally.

_'No obvious security cameras... doesn't mean much. Can't just switch with Rei and let her do it then... even if there aren't, cant risk it in case a guard comes in..."_

_"You do realize, of course, that I can hear your innermost thoughts? No matter... I'll have to walk you through the process step by step."_

Ranma grunted and began to awkwardly work the machine, slowly downloading the file onto a small disc. Minutes passed as the bar slowly filled. It wouldn't be-

Ranma's head snapped up. Footsteps. One of the guards was coming... Ranma's fingers began to blur.

The guard slammed the door open, still grumbling slightly about the toy gun, and shone his flashlight into the room. After a moment, he slid the door closed again and continued on his rounds. Ranma sighed in relief and stood up from where she'd ducked down behind the desk. Flipping the switch on the monitor, she noticed that the bar had filled to a hundred percent.

"About time. Stupid computers... too many close calls. Hmph. I'd almost think that... well of course. They're watching through cameras and making things more difficult... heh."

She tucked the disc into a shirt pocket and quickly shut the computer off before leaving, sneaking quickly out of the complex.

Of all three, she was the only one to make a perfect score on the infiltration test. Bell got tagged by one of the guards and disqualified, and Kaoru tripped the infrared alarm on his way out. Amateur mistakes.

Not that she was a professional, but _they_ were supposed to be. She was frankly embarrased for them at their poor performance...

And in the middle of that thought, a wave of pain crashed through her mind and she staggered for a half step before catching herself.

_'Wh... wha... Rei?'_

_"H... Hurts..."_ the other managed to croak out before giving up and screaming in the depths of their mind as a second blasting wave of agony made itself known. _"Not... not supposed... to hurt..."_

Ranma wobbled slightly and leaned up against a wall for support until the dizziness passed.

_'Rei, what... the hell is going on?'_

_"No... no time... to explain. Need... I need the body... need the body now!"_

Ranma grit her teeth and staggered down the suddenly wavery hallway to a nearby washroom. Relatively nearby, anyway... the few yards seemed to stretch forever. Finally she made it and spent a moment fumbling with the knobs at a sink before managing to get the hot water running and holding a hand beneath it.

The vertigo and pain seemed to melt away to crystal clarity as their body shifted and Rei's consciousness was put at the wheel.

_"So Rei... feel like explaining now? What the hell was that, just now? Was it because of how long we spent in my body without switching?"_

_'No... this is something altogether different. I thought I had more time, or I would have warned you... the unpleasant side-effects came from it beginning in the wrong body. I was unaware that was possible... even so, you recall that I mentioned that I was not entirely human?'_

_"Yeah. So what does... oh."_

_'Yes... those inhuman aspects of my DNA have begun to show themselves. Doctor Ritsuko informs me that the process is theoretically something like puberty times ten to the thousandth power.'_

_"'Times ten to the'... what, 'theoretically'?"_ Ranma inquired, with just a little bit of stress accentuation.

_''Theoretically' because nobody expected something like it to happen, and Rei II was terminated when it did. Not that I was in much state to resist, but her cadaver was studied intensively to produce the theory.'_

Ranma felt a headache coming on as she worked to compute that statement. In the meantime, Rei stared into the mirror.

_'Saotome-san...' _she began hesitantly._ 'Do... would you prefer that I closed our eyes for the next stage of the process? I myself only harbor dim recollections of the experience through Rei II's memories, but I do recall that... it was not pleasant to watch.'_

_"Nah. Can't be too horrific."_

_'Very well. It... it begins.'_

It was only bare moments later that Ranma began to fiercely regret her bravado and hasty words. The scene she bore witness to was... indescribable, but it brought to mind shambling, flesh rending ghouls and gibbering horrors that instilled madness unto those who looked upon them overlong. Thankfully, it was mercifully short and the end result was very close to the Rei that had begun. A bit taller, yes. Slightly more shapely, perhaps, and just a touch paler, though it was hard to tell.

And the wings. Great pale wings, feathers the very shade of Rei's hair, with the very occasional abberation here and there of one that seemed to have taken its color from her crimson eyes instead. They flapped once, stirring up a breeze in the enclosed room, and were gone.

_'It is... finished.'_

Rei's mental voice sounded exhausted, and she only barely managed to splash her hand through cool water to restore Ranma's form before giving the impression of collapsing somewhere in the depths of their shared mind.

Ranma growled softly. Fine then... questions could come later. It wasn't like Rei was going anywhere.

Elsewhere, in the security station, Giovanni's Alakazam were doing their job on the unconscious guards, carefully rewriting their memories as Giovanni himself stroked his chin and repeatedly rewound and watched a particular segment of footage. Coming to a decision, he burned it to a small data disc that he then tucked away into a hidden pocket and quickly deleted it from the memory of the security network.

He wasn't sure exactly what had just happened, but it seemed his decision to oversee this particular set of tests had been a good idea.

xxx

"Your next and final test for the day will be blending into the upper crust of society, as you will find is occasionally neccessary. Proper garments have been provided." The old, monacled butler sniffed.

Ranma peeked into the parcel provided and glowered.

"'Scuse me... yeah you. Old guy. This is a dress. A _minidress_. And these shoes... I don't even know what to say about them."

"Indeed, young lady. You will find that unlike..." He cast a jaundiced eye over her own outfit, unwashed for the past several days, and mud-stained boots, at which Ranma felt inexplicably self-conscious. "... low-brow harridans such as yourself, _proper_ ladies show some sort of proper decorum in polite society."

The self consciousness flickered away, immediately replaced by unbridled, seething rage.

"Oh... oh yeah? I'll show you proper decorum, you-!"

"Now, madame." The butler interrupted with no show of remorse at all. "I'm sure you've been in your share of, ah, street fights and taproom brawls, but I'm afraid that if you spend your time... hmm, assaulting people, then you'll be late for the gala. And, of course, there will be marks against you."

Ranma pulled the tiny red minidress out of the packaging and hurled it at the man's head before visibly calming herself and changing her speech patterns.

"Even so, good sir..." She said with more than a hint of frost. "... I categorically refuse to adorn myself with trappings easily familiar to many a slattern or street-corner harlot. I shall make my own arrangements... good day."

The butler type arched an eyebrow and waited until she was gone before withdrawing a small pocket-book and revising his initial estimates of what her score would be. Of course, he still had to see just what sort of clothes the woman would manage to get ahold of, when the only semi-suitable, if somewhat scandalous, garments available were the ones he'd attempted to give her.

There was a nearby frightened squeal, followed by a dull thump of flesh against the floor. The butler carefully ticked off a couple of points, followed by adding one for ingenuity. With any luck, the girl had selected a target that wouldn't be missed.

xxx

A few short lengths of chain out of subspace, once she'd lopped the myriad weapons off the ends and stuffed them back in, secured the socialite and an old, but clean sock from a pair she didn't remember buying, but frequently turned up in her stash anyway, served as a gag. Ranma then stuffed the squealy bint onto the top shelf of a closet and closed the door, privately wondering just when she'd become so cold-hearted. Then she shook it off... she couldn't have someone run up through the party in their underwear and claiim, however truthfully, that she'd stolen their clothes.

And what nice clothes they were, too. A sleeveless dress that started just below her jaw and continued down to her ankles... the woman had been somewhat taller than she was, and she suspected that it was meant to come down to the mid-calves... with a slit that came up almost scandalously high on her, but would have been much more prudent on the lady who'd originally been wearing it. There were some extraneous silvery buckles here and there that she wasn't certain she wanted to know about as well as some delicate silvery chains across that slit.

The shoes were a no, though. Stiletto heels... no. She emptied out her sleeves, thanking Mousse mentally for using his techniques against her often enough that she'd picked them up out of sheer repetition as she dug through the resulting pile, eventually finding some very nice sandals that were made up of long leather strips threaded to loops attached to a woven sole and then wound artistically up the calf. Nice, and a damn sight better than those awful heels.

There were a couple more quick accessories, she took a moment to put her hair into an elaborate style involving a pair of ornamental chopsticks, and then she stuffed the rest of the pile back into wherever it was when she didn't need it.

She was missing something... oh. Makeup... no. The only experience she had of makeup was slathering it on like a clown _as a guy_ during the whole Yamata no Orochi debacle. For a fancy do like this was supposed to be... just no.

She quickly tested her flexibility, just in case she ended up having to fight in this get-up, and was pleasantly surprised at the range of motion. She'd have to cut down somewhat on the kicks, of course, and the expensive fabric it was made out of looked like it would tear easily... so it would be a challenge. Ranma _liked_ challenges. By now, she was almost hoping that someone picked a fight with her.

Not that they would. And given that it was a test, she couldn't pick a fight with someone either. Pity.

xxx

A.N. Next chapter, the gala.

Took a bit longer than I expected to get through this chapter, but have been working out a couple future plot points to consider. No need to divulge them just yet, as they're a long way off.


	12. Testing, Part the Final

**Warning! **The following chapter contains scenes of brutal interrogation, gore, death, mindfuckery, naughty words, and cannabalism. If any of those subjects makes you squick, or you happen to have a particularly weak stomach, you should probably skip all the segments that are between XXX insead of xxx.

It also heavily references lesbianism, but really, if you haven't seen that coming for a long time then you're kinda hopeless. **End Warning!**

xxx

Wanderer

xxx

Bella, being shy and cute and ever so vulnerable in the thing that could only be called a dress by reason of it being vaguely dress-shaped and made of cloth, had slipped into the gala seamlessly, despite that the jealous married women were keeping tight hold of their husbands and making a wide berth around her.

Kaoru... not so much. Something about him just had a tendency to irritate people, for no real or valid reason, and the 'upper crust' were not only not immune to it, but seemed even more irritated than most others.

Ranma on the other hand, having learned at some point when and how to talk to people who thought they were more important than they actually were and when to keep her mouth shut, was slowly wrapping all the snooty rich people around her fingers. She'd already recieved three offers for an engagement to some woman's 'precious little darling of a boy', two of whom had been subtly picking their noses when their mothers made the offer. She had been extremely hard pressed to remain polite as she shot the offers down, but had earned a few bonus points for doing so, despite that it was obvious she wanted to explode on someone.

Then the dances began, and Ranma nearly freaked out at the realization that Kaoru and Bell had already paired up for them, leaving her to choose from the best of the single men leering from over their martini glasses. That would never do... fortunately, Ranma had always been good at changing the rules on the fly.

She tugged out Gardevoir's pokeball and hoped that her half recalled memory of something about the breed's instinctual knowledge of dancing held true as she forced her knowledge of Martial Ballroom Dancing to the forefront of her mind. There was a flash of red, leaving all the men disappointed as Ranma carefully set one hand at Gardevoir's waist, taking the lead for the waltz that had just begun.

xxx

The waltzes had been fine. There had been a tango in there somewhere as well, which had been a little tricky as Ranma wasn't in the habit of carrying flowers around, even in subspace pockets, but they'd muddled through that as well. The problem was when the 'Modern' dances had began. Or rather, modern 'dances'.

Rather than the elegant grace that dances typically implyed, these were spasming and out of control limbs combined with random body movements that made it seem like a stand-up orgy had begun on the dance floor, except that nobody had bothered to take their clothes off.

By the time she'd clawed her way out of the suddenly seething morass of people gyrating to a throbbing and pulsing beat that seemed to mainly include the subtle refrain 'Bow-chiki-bowoww' repeated at measured intervals, she was extremely flushed and frazzled and Gardevoir was terribly confused, both by the dancing and by the surface thoughts and emotions she had been picking up for the last few minutes.

Ranma spared only a moment of regret for the loss of Gardevoir's innocence before realizing that she didn't really give a damn, when compared to her own mental trauma. Some of the old crones and balding, paunchy old men out there were really quite hideous. Gardevoir would simply have to deal with it on her own, inside the ball.

Of course, a good deal of the rationale of that decision was that since Gardevoir wasn't actually human, Ranma had no real idea how she would interpret what she was seeing and picking up mentally, or how she would respond to it in the short, long, or indeed _any_ term, and to be brutally honest Ranma wasn't sure on how she would or even could explain things through the language barrier.

There was, of course, the 'rip the relevant information out of Ranma's skull' option, but having experienced it once, but having gone through that once and feeling all the requisite side effects, she was less than interested in trying it again under anything but the most dire of circumstances. And completely aside from that, now that she'd reminded herself of the incident, she recalled that she had to think of an appropriate punishment for that. Thankfully, Rei seemed to be beginning to wake up, so the matter could probably be dumped entirely on her currently-nonexistent shoulders.

"Omigosh, Ranma!" Bell squealed and latched herself to Ranma's side, having left the dance floor herself at some point. "That... that was so _incredible_ out there! I'm sure you'll make the promotion now. You were so good at everything else, and now you're such a wonderful dancer... although.... I think they might take points off for your taking the male lead."

Ranma tried to compose a response. Really, she did. Unfortunately, her mind was stuck on the fact that her arm was currently being squished between two soft and warm masses of very nice boobie-flesh. She instead settled for a soft and thoughtful 'hn', as it was the best her vocal cords could currently produce, and hoped that nobody caught the strangled note to it.

Right... puberty times whatever it was that Rei had said. As though the first time through hadn't been enough of a living hell... although on the positive side, this one was unlikely to involve ninjas, edged weaponry in any form, explosives, Genma's fumbling and half-hearted and terribly confusing variation of 'the talk' before he'd just handed Ranma magazines on every even vaguely sexual subject imaginable and locked him in a basement for three days, or those weird shotacon monster-woman-ish things that had been sealed in that ancient and abandoned temple/dungeon in Hokkaido.

Growing up on the road with Genma, little Ranma had met a great deal of interesting characters. Really, it was no wonder that by the time they reached Nerima, he'd been traumatized as to 'romance' in all its forms. The whole 'turn into a girl' thing had really been a combination of icing on the cake and the straw that broke the camel's back in that regard. And Bell was still talking, wasn't she? Ranma quickly forced her attention back to the conversation.

"-worried about it. I mean, I haven't done nearly as well as you... I don't think I'm going to make the promotion."

Bell sipped at her drink, exuding an aura of depression. Thankfully she'd released Ranma's arm at some point, thus allowing her to focus properly, without imaginary breasts floating through her field of vision.

This second puberty thing was starting to look like a real problem in the making.

"Well... If I pass and you don't, I'll look you up, and you can be my cute little subordinate..." Ranma suddenly saw, in a flash of blinding insight, what she was going to say next and attempted to shut her mouth... but too late. "And I'd have lot's of things for you to dooo... uh..."

She flushed, heavily, grabbed a nearby glass of something and chugged it to cover her embarassment as Bell blinked slowly, proccessing her declaration.

"Eh.... could you forget that last bit, maybe? The drink..." Ranma paused, realising that she hadn't actually had anything to drink aside from the glass she'd just picked up, and she really didn't want to be caught in a lie right now. "Well, _something_ has gone directly to my head, anyway. Maybe it's... y'know, _that_."

She motioned to the dance floor, where the dancers had degenerated to the point of not-so-clandestine groping rather than make any real attempt to disguise it with 'dancing'. Bell twitched slightly, then sighed.

"Maybe you're right. Still..." She turned to Ranma with half-lidded eyes that did really uncomfotably tingly things to her spine. "... I wouldn't mind.... being Ranma-sempai's... subor..."

She toppled over, landing face-first in some sort of chocolate cake dish. Ranma blinked, then poked her in the head before she really understood what she was seeing.

"Unconscious...? Hey! Hey, a little help here!"

"Oh my word!" One of the waiters gasped as he rushed to Ranma's side. "What on earth happened here?"

"I dunno. She just-" There was a sudden sharp prick at Ranma's jugular, and then the room started swaying. "Fell.... over...?"

Through the haze, she could see another waiter across the room next to a staggering Kaoru, and suddenly she understood.

"We shall be continuing on the next stage of testing immediately, miss Saotome." The waiter whispered into her ear.

The next stage. Ranma quickly ran through all the stages that had been tested already, and came to an uncomfortable answer. The next two stages were... torture resistance and escaping from enemy strongholds.

Everything went black for her just moments before Rei roused herself.

_"What have I missed? Saotome?"_

XXX

She woke up stripped to her undergarments and chained to a wall, all her clothes and personal possessions in a large basket well out of her reach, but still visible. An excellent opening gambit, despite that the man in the room wasn't really living up to the 'dungeon master' image she'd worked out that fitted a professional torturer. He was a bit short, yeah, but aside from that he was almost depressingly normal looking.

"I see you're awake, miss Saotome. That's good. This sort of thing just isn't the same with only one active participant."

She glared at him in responce, and he laughed softly.

"I like those eyes... so full of impotent rage. You should know that the higher echelons of the Rocket organization have a very strict plan for this particular test. The participants are given a secret to keep, and it is the interrogator's job... that would be me... to extract that secret from them. There would of course be a very tight watch on how far I could go in my interrogations."

He pointed at a camera set up next to the cieling in a corner, covering the majority of the room.

"And they are watching closely. The thing is... you've been relocated to a different facility for the duration of this exercise. And in just a moment, the people in charge here are going to have much bigger problems on their hands."

He grinned widely as an alarm nearby started blaring softly, right on cue.

"I see that those problems have just begun. This facility is now under full scale assault from another organization. This facility is in no way equipped to repel such an assault, and so the staff will be following standard operating procedure and abandoning ship, so to speak. If there is anything really important left behind, then arrangements will be made for a counteroffensive to regain control of the facility for at least long enough for the important item to be removed back to their control. Unfortunately for you, there are no such important items here.... and they won't be mounting a rescue operation for what amounts to three grunts, no matter how useful."

He leered smugly at her and leaned in, running a finger along her jaw. She bit it. Howling in rage and some small amount of pain, he jerked it away and slammed a knee into her stomach, knocking the wind out of her hard enough that a small amount of phlegm and blood came along.

"Bitch!" He snarled. "Fine then. It seems your going to be difficult about this, so I can't cut you any slack at all. The important thing, to your point of view at least, is just _which_ organization has taken control here. It's Aqua, you stupid cunt."

He grabbed her by the throat and lifted her with a surprising amount of strength.

"And Aqua _knows_ who did it, now that you were stupid enough to gloat aloud in front of that senile old man. This isn't an interrogation. It is punishment. And it is I who decides your fate."

Ranma spit in his face, and a trickle of pink drool crawled down his cheek. The man frowned, then punched her in the jaw and dropped her.

"Stubborn, foolish little woman." He chided. "You're trying to make me angry enough to kill you. It won't work. I am The most accomplished interrogator in this entire hemisphere... and let me tell you a little secret. I have never... not once... allowed one of my assignments to die while under my care. There will be no such easy escape for you, either."

He grinned.

"Think on that, while I make my preparations."

Ranma glowered as the door slammed shut.

xxx

"You may be thinking that you can escape, if given the opportunity. You may even be correct."

The man carefully fished out her pokeballs from the basket before setting them to the side, then dumping a small cup of fluid and dropping a lit match. The clothes went up in a blaze and he casually tucked the pokeballs into his pockets.

"However, alone and nearly naked, I don't think you'll get very far."

He kicked her feet out from under her, forcing her to kneel with a clink of chain pulling her arms over her head, before walking out and leaving her to watch the flames.

xxx

"You're proving remarkably resilient, you know." The man chatted idly, fishing through his sack of tools. "It's been nearly a week. Most that I focus my full attention on spill everything I want to know, or break completely, inside the first forty-eight hours. You're fascinating... you haven't even let loose a single scream, yet."

He paused and turned to her.

"I wonder... do you think I'm a monster? Many do. I'm not, though. A monster would be doing this for no other reason than their sick satisfaction. I do it because it's my job, and frankly you've enflamed my curiosity. Although there is some degree of satisfaction to a job well-done, I'll admit."

He withdrew a long, thin object from the sack and flicked it on, a crackling arc of electricity appearing at the tip, and let it hover over Ranma's chest, following her as she squirmed, attempting automatically to get out of the way.

"Let's find out... Let's see just how much it will take, before you scream for me."

He twitched his hand, stabbing the prongs of the cattle prod into the flesh just outside of Ranma's nipple, and began to fiddle with the voltage dial.

xxx

Some days it was physical. Others it was psychological. The man liked to mis it up, so she'd never be sure what the day would bring. In that regard, every day held at least a little bit of psychological torment.

It had been more than a month, and the dried blood and filth encrusted on her was really getting horrible, and so he had brought in a tub of hot water, filled with bubbles.

It wasn't for her, though. It was so he could watch, taking a bath of his own, as two of his aides sprayed her down with a firehose. To add injury to insult, the reservoir it was attached to was salty ocean water, and aggravated all of the injuries that had yet to heal.

xxx

It was nearly six months before she realized that Rei wasn't talking to her.

xxx

"I just love fur, you know." The man began, an odd non-sequitor to break up what had become a monotony. "It's very nice, the way it rubs against your skin. Arousing, in fact. Though some of it has to be treated correctly, otherwise it's llike a thousand little needles."

It took a moment for Ranma to process what he was saying, as he set down a small animal's skull, just out of her reach. Then she howled in a wordless rage and lunged to the end of her metal tether, hands outstretched behind her as she came to a sudden halt. He smirked and leaned down.

"I'm wearing fur underwear." He whispered, almost seductively.

She bit down, hard, on his shoulder, and the day's plan rapidly shifted from psychological to physical.

xxx

Where was Rei?

xxx

"I've begun to figure you out, I think." The man stated aloud. "Though it took me long enough. It's been nearly a year since we first met. But what I've discovered is that harming you just doesn't have the same effect that it does on normal people."

He shrugged, and smirked.

"Even so, you do a good enough job of keeping all attention on you and you specifically that it was difficult to figure out. I salute you for that, miss Saotome."

She snarled at him from beneath a bedraggled veil of red hair, not bothering to cover herself, as what clothes she'd been allowed to keep had long since fallen apart... no doubt another calculated ploy. Even so, her new array of scar tissue was distracting enough that she had no doubt that the first thing people noticed wouldn't be her titties.

He waved a hand, and Kaoru was dragged in, although he was barely recognisable. He looked like he'd been... experimented on.

"We've borrowed some technology and techniques from other organizations. I hope you're impressed."

"Kill... me..." Kaoru snarled. The man shrugged and withdrew a pocketknife and stabbed it into his throat, kicking him as he gurgled out.

"Oh dear. It seems your friend is dead."

He sighed as he kicked at the gurgling mass, hastening its end slightly. Ranma had no time to grieve, however.

"Let's play a little game." He motioned to one of the aides, who threw the corpse into her movement range. "From now on, you will be left alone and given water but no food until I change my mind. Let's see which disappears faster... your stubbornness, or your friends cadaver."

xxx

She lasted nearly a week before cracking and giving in to her hunger, and by that time Kaoru had begun to rot and stink. Even she had to admit that the man had forced her another step closer to breaking.

She got him back though, with a rib snapped into a pointy spike when he eventually returned. He wasn't expecting it, but still managed to dodge enough that it drove through his shoulder instead of his heart, where she'd been aiming.

Pity.

xxx

It wasn't just Rei that had gone AWOL... there was something else missing, that disturbed her horribly. Her ki, or her ability to control it, rather.

What the hell was going on.

xxx

She woke up to see the body of Gardevoir, pinned open to show internal organs from where she was crucified to the wall next to the door at the other end of the room.

"I like it." The man chirped happily. "It just adds a little... _something_ to your drab little cell."

Ranma howled a string of foul obscenities at him.

"Hm... there was no call for that. We'll be accelerating the plan then. Bring her in."

Bell was carted in, as it quickly became obvious she couldn't have walked herself. Having no feet sort of impedes such actions. Bell mouthed Ranma's name when she saw her, revealing that her tongue had gone astray as well.

"Another one of your twisted games, torturer?" She snarled angrily, and he lifted up a hand as if to say 'Whoops, caught me'.

"You're such an interesting subject though. I really can't help it." He smirked. "I'll see you eventually, then."

xxx

She lasted nearly twice as long as she had with Kaoru, mainly because he had already been dead and only vaguely human anymore, but in the end she succumbed. Unfortunately, Bell woke at her touch, and she had to deal with pleading, terrified eyes before gritting her teeth and snapping her cellmate's neck.

The shame burned and ate at her like acid, even as she quieted the maddening growls of her stomach.

xxx

What was _going on?_

xxx

It had been just over three years now, and even after her friends were all gone the torturer's games had grown continually more sick, twisted, and humiliating. He'd given up feigning to not enjoy their interactions as well, which was why it was so surprising when he tugged a gun out of his coat.

"My superiors have decided, unfortunately, that you're too much of a danger to keep around any longer. They've decided that you aren't going to break. We know better though, don't we? I think you're right on the edge, even now. All you need is one more little push, and then you'll fall and smash apart like so much broken glass. But it's out of my hands now. They've made arrangements for your cell to be flooded in an hour... nobody wants to come near you anymore. They're terrified of what you've become. Drowning... it's such a messy and inelegant death."

He smiled.

"One last game, then. In this gun, there is a bullet. Just one. Let's see how you choose to use it."

He tossed the gun to her and waited, but not long. It was only a few short moments before he slumped back against the wall, blood seeping out of a hole in his forehead and trickling down the wall behind him as he slumped bonelessly to the ground... still smiling, having been proven absolutely correct.

Ranma spit at his corpse.

"Asshole." She rasped, no longer used to talking rather than howling mindlessly. "Smug little asshole... happy now? I've figured something out.... Little things, adding up over time. This place... the blood... the death... even you. NONE OF IT'S REAL!"

XXX

Ranma's eyes snapped open, and the first thing she saw was a concerned scientist, leaning over her. She reacted poorly, slamming a headbutt into his face and knocking him violently away as she rolled off the bed, scanning for other dangers, in a state of heightened adrenaline.

_"Saotome! Control yourself!"_ Rei barked at her from inside her head.

Ranma slowed, realizing what Rei's voice meant as her fight-or-flight reflex began to ebb.

"This is... real. Oh shit! Uh, I'm really sorry about that, sir, I just-"

"Don't worry about it." A voice came from behind her. Giovanni. "Jaques knew full well that you would likely lash out once awoken, and is recieving hazard pay for it. In reality, it is I who should be apologizing to you."

Ranma blinked as Giovanni ushered her to a chair and sat her down before taking a seat himself.

"Jaques... fetch us something to eat, would you?"

"Eh, you wan' me outta the room, just say so boss. 'M goin'."

Giovanni waited for the door to swing shut before continuing.

"The process you just went through in lieu of an actual interrogation is a form of psychic manipulation. It is designed to rely heavily on your own psyche, specifically to bring you to the very edge of what you can endure before it releases you and allows you to break free. For most, it lasts a minute or so in real time, and only a few hours in dream time. That's because for most grunts, a few hours is all they can really handle before they crack."

He eyed her curiously before continuing.

"Miss Saotome... you've been under for nearly a week. The final test had to be canceled, and we've been feeding you through tubes. I can only imagine why the process kept you under for so long, or what you went through while it was underway. I do know, however, that you must be very strong to have endured it. If this was an actual test, rather than an awakening to certain realities of life in our organization, I'm sure you would have earned full marks."

He paused a moment.

"If you wish... the organization has a multitude of psychiatrists and therapists on retainer. I could-"

"No." Ranma barked, before wincing as her vision blurred for a moment. "No... I'll be fine. The last thing I need is to talk to a head-shrink."

Giovanni considered that for a long moment before shrugging.

"I suppose that it's your decision... and as long as it doesn't affect your performance, I can't _order_ you to accept therapy. No matter how much good I think it would do you. In the end, that is your decision alone."

He stood up and prepared to leave.

"On the positive side of things, I do believe you've passed the promotion exams. With flying colors, even. Congradulations. Now I would advise you rest. You've been through a trying ordeal."

Ranma grunted, but leaned back into the chair obediently, and was surprised when she fell asleep almost instantly. Giovanni nodded, seeing that the mild sedatives they'd pumped into her along with the liquid food had done their work once she'd calmed down somewhat.

xxx

A.N. Bit short, I'm afraid. Nothing to be done about that, really.

I find it terribly ironic at the moment that I chose to name this thing 'Wanderer'. Because, to be frank, the planned script seems to have wandered off on me. I had something like the next twenty odd chapters planned out, but damned if I can find them, or even vaguely remember what my intentions were. Still, not like this is the first time this particular story has undergone a dramatic overhaul after this sort of thing. I'll just make stuff up as I go along.

Last time this happened, they shifted from a werewolf novel to Pokemon. Hopefully, it will be somewhat less dramatic this time...

Also, I am reliably informed that humanxpokemon interspecies relationships are canon. Not sure if you'll see it through the FF net, but this is me crying tears of bitterness at the revelation. TT_TT Something about a fable carved into a wall somewhere in the DS versions that, in the original Japanese, insinuates that humans and pokemon used to 'marry' each other. TT_TT I would research it on my own, but at this point I'm honestly beginning to not care anymore. Besides, who doesn't think poor, confused little Gardevoir is cute?

Gah! I am become Corrupted! Noooooo-!


	13. Chapter 13

Wanderer

xxx

"Just what was that, Saotome?"

Ranma just grunted, rolling over in the mists of her mindscape.

"Don't ignore me, I won't tolerate it. Explain, now!" Rei snapped.

Ranma groaned and sat up, rubbing at the back of her neck as she stood.

"Dunno why you're getting overwrought about this."

"'Overwrought', Saotome? You're so- I don't even know where to begin."

"Hn... Let's just say that in the right conditions, people will do things that they would never dream of otherwise. You heard that boss-guy, right? The... thingy... drew power, took its form, from my own _mind_. Thing is, I've been taught from a very young age to do whatever it takes to survive. Steal, beg, whatever. Consciously, I try not to do that sort of thing anymore, so much. Subconsciously? That's a good bit more iffy territory. Because of that, my breaking point's a whole lot harder to reach than most people."

Ranma sighed deeply as she imagined up a chair and flopped bonelessly into it.

"I kinda envy them, you know? I mean... I bet that Kaoru moron didn't get put through anything really damaging at all. Odds are, he just got kicked in the nuts a few times."

Ranma paused for a long moment, rubbing at the bridge of her nose.

"Do you... think that I _like_ knowing the sorts of things that I'll turn to when I become desperate enough? Even if it was no more than an illusion, or a hallucination... it was still _my_ mind that fed it."

"Why on earth did you even accept a job that involved something like that?" Rei asked aloud. "Surely there are easier, less... stressful ways to make a living?"

"You're right about that. On the other hand, most of them need you to stay in one spot long-term, and we _do_ intend to leave this... place, at some point. Hopefully soon. To do that, we need to be able to move around, to find a way to actually do it. Otherwise we're stuck here... forever."

Ranma mock-shuddered, prompting a small almost-smile from Rei.

"Still, place kinda grows on you after a while. Like a nasty, itchy fungus between the toes."

They both paused and went a little green at the images that the line of thought produced.

"In any case..." Rei picked up. "If it's mobility you're after, my research papers..."

"Will they cover transport, from anywhere, to anywhere?" Ranma countered. "I know we've come into a lot of money recently, but it'll run out really quick if we have to _pay_ for teleportation between leagues. The Rocket people will cover our transport, at short notice and to pretty much anywhere on the globe, according to whims or leads on a way _out_, for FREE as long as one of us is important to their plans... and once we've found a way out, we can just ditch them and they'll never ever be able to follow us. A foolproof plan. And besides that entirely, do you know any other way for us to get pokemon for you to study, without this job? The wild ones are avoiding us, yanno? Guess we could buy them or win them at the slots place, but I get the feeling Rocket's gonna be a lot less happy with our winning streak the further it goes, especially if we've quit them."

Ranma nodded, satisfied. Rei, on the other hand, was not entirely convinced

"But..."

"And besides that, there's the free pokemon for bonuses thing. It's already become obvious that the wild ones are, for whatever reason, avoiding us like we had the freaking black plague. Our only other options are winning them at the slots, which would draw attention and the selection isn't _that_ wide, hoping that one of the higher up professor people shoots us a pokemon that he doesn't feel like studying himself, or... this."

"That... is _a_ point." Rei grudgingly admitted. "Not neccessarily the best you could have made, but a point."

"Geeze... looks like it all comes back to the torture thing, huh? But really, in all honesty the most that I'd expected from the 'torture resistance' thing was a working over by a couple big guys, maybe some waterboarding or a beating with heavy sticks. Would've been no biggie."

"You're.... so _casual_ about it..." Rei mumbled.

"Pfft. Are you kidding me? With Pops for a sensei, the line between 'training' and 'torture' get's reeeaal fine at times. But anyway... how was I going to know about this secret mind whatever thingy they used? To them its probably worked great so far, too... these guys did start out as basically the mafia, after all, and it lets them give the effect of introducing the cadets to the possibilities of what could happen if they're caught by other mobs, but without actually hurting them physically. If he was right, and most only last a few hours of dream-time in there, then they wouldn't get much past a light beating, and that wouldn't leave many mental scars. And there was no real way of them knowing that that sort of thing wouldn't be so effective on me... and so the thingy would have to go a lot deeper, and get more imaginative in my case."

"That... sounds like you're rationalizing it to yourself."

"You know what? I am. Doesn't stop it from being the truth, though... or would you prefer that I crack and start killing? Because once you've done it once, it starts looking like a more viable, tempting option. I learned that after Saffron. Whether the guy stayed dead or not is actually irrelevant."

A long silence fell as the mists swirled around them, before Rei broke it again.

"What.... what _happened_ while you were unconscious, Saotome?"

"Don't wanna talk about it. If you really have'ta know, dig through my memories later. I'll warn you though... 'snot pretty."

Rei nodded, accepting Ranma's evaluation... she would know, after all... and turned the subject to less touchy things.

xxx

She woke up to Bell's big, teary eyes in front of her, and flinched backwards slightly. Fortunately, the reaction was either missed or misinterpreted and ignored by the rest of the room.

"U... Uwaah! Ranma-sempai is alive." Bell wailed, letting loose the waterworks and swiftly drenching her.

"Was... there some doubt about it?" Ranma mumbled, starting to wriggle out of the way of the trickling tears before thinking better of it and sitting up, gently pushing Bell's head out of the way as she did.

"Not really. However, I'm afraid miss Bellatrix is rather excitable, and became somewhat overwrought when the procedure that had gone easily enough for her went so very awry for her sempai."

Ranma blinked slowly before registering the voice and snapping to attention. Or at least, as close to attention as she could manage while still sitting in a cot and clothed in a ridiculous hospital gown.

"Boss!"

"No need for that. I'm simply here to suggest, again, that you consider therapy for whatever trauma it is that you suffered to keep you under so long. Though I can tell you still aren't interested. In that case, I'm giving you notice that I have a job ready for you, whenever it is you're capable of working."

Ranma quickly stood, foregoing modesty as she tossed the blanket back onto the bed. Kaoru, who'd been leaning against a wall in some misguided attempt to look 'cool' in front of the boss and his female coworkers 'urk'ed softly and began sliding down it as his knees slowly gave out on him. Not exactly the image he'd been trying to portray.

"Just get my clothes and my Pokemon back to me and I'm good to go anytime."

Giovanni nodded slowly.

"I'm... not sure I believe you, but points for stoicism and grit, I suppose." Giovanni took a moment to tug a sealed envelope out of his suit. "The details are in here, and you may collect your effects at the front desk. Your pokeballs and a single suit of clothing should be in the drawer beneath your bed. For the moment, however, feel free to fraternize with your fellow Rockets. They, also, have been promoted, although neither scored nearly so well as you."

GIovanni calmly and elegantly left the room, and Kaoru coughed, taking control of the situation as best he could.

"Well, boss man's gone... we just got a promotion... you know what that means? It's party time! I got the smokes, the booze, and the... heheh.... _entertainment_ is waiting!"

Ranma stared as he produced the aforementioned items from about his person somewhere.

"Why... on earth are you allowed to dress like a shrine priest, anyway? Do I even want to know what kind of 'entertainment' you have in mind?"

Kaoru shuffled sheepishly in his robes.

"Aheh... Aw, come on. Do you know how long it took me to find a place with poledancers _and_ prettyboys? You wouldn't want my money to go to waste, now?"

"I think you can shove your-"

"I'll go."

Bell rapidly withdrew into herself as the others turned on her in varying measures of surprise.

"I, I mean, after all... H-he has made r-reservations, right?" She continued rapidly, flushing heavily.

_"Saotome. I do not understand the turn this conversation has taken. Please explain what is going on."_

_'You... didn't get out much, did you.'_

_"Ah. It is a 'social thing' then. Will there be..." _Rei paused, obviously grasping at straws while trying to seem as though she wasn't. _"... videogames and... popcorn?"_

_'Wow. And here I thought that I was the one who'd lived a sheltered life.'_

_"Pardon me if spending near to the entirety of my life being prepped to become the End Of All That Is has damaged my ability to properly interact with the beings I am meant to eventually destroy. They seem concerned about you, by the way."_

_'Shit!'_

Ranma blinked rapidly, brushing off the worried stares from the two who were, yes, still in the room.

"Sorry... what were we talking about? I... may not be as entirely recuperated as I'd implied to the boss."

Bell looked like she was about to break out into tears again, but Kaoru simply nodded, in an unexpectedly somber manner.

"You just lie down and... take a nap or something, then. We'll be back in a few hours, and the party can wait until then."

He carefully set a packet of cigarettes and a hip-flask on a side table next to her and winked.

"Just in case, you know, you wake up early and feel like starting the party without us."

He winked obviously as he ushered Bell out of the room and the door clicked softly shut behind them. Ranma sighed after a moment.

_'Man... they're too nice. That makes what I'm about to do really suck.'_

_"What you...? Oh. We're leaving, then?"_

_'No time like the present.'_ Ranma mumbled mentally, opening the envelope with her mission inside and frowning at it.

It looked reasonable enough. Somebody had lost big in a bet against the Rockets, and until he could pay she was to secure an item of some sort of value from him, ensure he knew they had it, and then hold it in safekeeping until he paid up. Not really extortion, or ransoming the object off, but more along the lines of holding it as collateral until the man paid an outstanding debt that he seemed to have owed for some time. Either he had no intention of paying, under the deluded belief that Rocket would drop it after a while, or the seventy-plus old man in the grainy picture provided had simply gone senile and forgotten that the debt existed. Either way, he needed a sharp reminder.

The questionable details came after. Apparently, the man in question had been on a business trip by sea, on the S.S. Tidal, in fact, and it wouldn't be arriving back in his hometown in Orre for at least a couple of weeks, so she would have to remain in the area for a while. On top of that, there was apparently a local festival of some sort that only happened once every ten years, but lasted six months, which had begun... last Tuesday. Combined with the relative low risk, even with the fact that Orre was technically out of Rocket's jurisdiction, and this town in specific was heavily disputed by both Snagem and Cypher....

_"It seems that while Giovanni cannot order you to take a vacation or speak with a psychiatrist, this is the next best thing. That, or it is a subtle apology of some sort."_

_'Tch. Well... at least this will give us research time to look into the legendaries. Maybe try to tick off a couple from the list, you know?'_

_"I have already pared the list down somewhat. For example, the 'first generation' Legendaries in their entirety will likely be of little or no use, as the Birds are elemental in nature and Mewtwo and Mew are apparently simply unusually powerful psychic pokemon. The second generation are similarly less than useful in that regard, aside from Celebi's apparent 'Time' powers. The-"_

_'Right, get it. And while it's a little irritating, I'm totally not surprised that you went ahead and did something so useful long before I even thought of it. So, what are we looking for?'_

_"In theory, any Legendary with 'Space' or 'Dimension' aspects, although 'Time' could potentially prove to be useful as a dimension in its own right, and as a side goal, any Legendary with roughly human level intelligence or above with the ability to communicate in some manner would be useful to meet at some point, if only to question on the location of the other Legendaries. Specifically, the most likely candidate and yet most difficult to find would be Arceus. Also, Palkia, Dialga, Cresselia, Giratina, Darkrai, and Celebi would be reasonable bets. Jirachi, if it truly does grant wishes, is a long-shot possibility. It is entirely possible that that part of its mythos is exaggerated or falsified entirely, and in any case it only comes out of hiding for a short period every thousand years."_

_'Right. And you couldn't have just listed their names.'_

_"That would have-"_

_So you're what he spoke of._

There was a long moment of silence.

_"Saotome...?"_

_'That totally wasn't me.'_

_It was I._

Without warning, a heavily damaged Taro slammed into the ground next to their bed, and a man with a shock of violently purple hair, funky tatoos, and far too many piercings faded into view.

"'S been a long time." He said, rubbing at his nose, then grinning. "Since anyone's gone out of their way to try to track down the Legends. I'd take it you're Ranma?"

"What... do you know of Legends?" She replied.

The man seemed to flicker, and suddenly it was Mewtwo standing before them, eyes glowing with a powerful, gleaming malevolence before he flickered back into his disguise form.

"Let's just say I know 'enough'. Thing is..." Mewtwo shrugged and grinned. "You're a Rocket. What makes you think I'll tell you anything?"

Ranma's fist balled beneath the sheet as her muscles tensed, preparing to spring.

_"NO!"_ Rei barked, the moment she realized what was about to happen.

_Then this is your plan?_

The mental 'voice' was amused, and the smirk on Mewtwo's illusion confirmed that it was his.

"Get out of my _head_!" Ranma snarled, only making the smirk widen.

"Make me. Face it, Rocket brat... I could squash you like an insect _by accident_. But on the other hand... it seems like battle is the only way you have available to convince me of anything."

Mewtwo faded away, leaving an illusion of his glowing eyes behind for a moment before they blinked out.

_I will await you at this place in Orre._

An image slammed into Ranma's head, and then all traces of Mewtwo's presence disappeared. Ranma collapsed back into the bed, body trembling all over from the released adrenaline, grinning in excitement.

It had been so _powerful_.

xxx

Getting Taro out of the hospital had proved to be more than a little tricky. In the end, Ranma had had to stuff him out the window as the only route that he wouldn't be noticed on.

That left the question of what to do with Kaoru's 'gifts'. In the end, she smoked half of one of the cigarettes, noting that whatever it was wrapped in the paper, it was _not_ tobacco, or at least not anything like the sort of tobacco she was familiar with. Though with the whole different world thing, that was perhaps to be expected. The rest was vanished somewhere about her person as the remaining half was set down on the side table, leaving a tiny scorch mark as she watched the smoke coil upwards.

The flask held something that was alcoholic, but aside from that bore absolutely no resemblance to sake, the only booze she'd ever had any experience with before. For one, this stuff tasted _good_, where she'd always found sake to smell and taste something like old paint thinner. Though that was probably because Genma and Soun had only ever bought the cheapest they could find. Kuno had managed to make her chug a bottle once, and that had most likely been of higher quality, but he'd actually managed to stuff it far enough to literally pour down her throat, so it hadn't been like she'd actually tasted any of it.

This stuff though, she had to consider looking into sometime. She took another cautious swig, ignoring Rei's mild irritation at the action, then concealed it in much the same manner as the cigarettes.

Which reminded her... she still had that loot buried wherever it was. Which meant that she either had to get to work on expanding her limits with the hidden weapons non-space stuff, or she had to get rid of some of the stuff she'd been carrying around. Or a combination of both.... she'd been carrying some of the most useless crap, after all. How many battleaxes did a person actually need, even in the worst case scenarios? Assuming that she wouldn't be hurling them all at once, the way Mousse did.

She collected her effects at the front desk and left, shaking off idle thoughts as she changed in a bathroom and looped out behind the building to pick up Taro and have Gardevoir teleport them to Jin's breeding center.

She debated hiding him away before deciding against it and just dumping him in the shade of a nearby tree, then entering the complex and trusting that she would keep an eye on the moron. A soft ringtone went off as she opened the door.

"You're early." Jin noted from his computer, not bothering to look up.

"Yep. I've got a debt to collect, don't you know?"

Jin grunted, giving the impression of amused irritation.

"Yes, brat, I recall the terms of our little wager. An egg for passing the examination, and another egg as a bonus for the highest score. I would advise you choose carefully, however, as this is most likely the last such opportunity you will have."

Ranma nodded and quickly ran through her mental checklist. She briefly considered a Ponyta, if only for the name match-up, and that a Rapidash would be a useful mount at some point. However, Houndour covered Fire as well as the Dark element. Ticking off Psychic, Ice, and Dragon types as well, she pondered the vast selection still remaining.

_"A Ghost type."_ Rei suggested. _"Jin's own has proven to be quite powerful and versatile."_

Ranma grunted in vague agreement, having long since stopped caring about planning ahead for elemental advantages. That was five... she needed one more, who could learn blade techniques the way that none of the rest really could.

"Misdreavus." she decided after a moment. "And... Scyther, if one is available."

"You're a lucky one. All the males are spoken for by the breeding programs well in advance, as their studs tend to wear themselves into early graves from exhaustion, but I happen to have a female egg. And despite their rarity, few people are interested in the breed. Bug types aren't exactly popular outside of young boys, during a certain stage of growth. Though admittedly, some never leave this stage."

Jin typed a few lines of code and waited, leaning back until there was a small 'shoopfh' sound. He opened a drawer and tossed the two pokeballs within in Ranma's general direction.

She was careful to nearly fumble the catch as she snagged them out of the air before making them vanish up her sleeves

"If that's all?"

"Heh... I'm gone, old man."

Ranma paused for a moment by the door to smirk back at Jin.

"For what it's worth... it was nice seeing you."

She left the crotchety old man to puzzle out her sudden pleasantness as she quickly made her way back to where Taro was now awake and struggling inside of Gardevoir's psychic hold.

"Man..." she mocked him happily. "Can't even deal with this, and you pick a fight with _Mewtwo_? I don't think even Ryoga was that dumb."

"Shut up Saotome." He snarled, struggles intensifying.... and yet still not doing much of anything to break him free.

"Geeze... lighten up. And here I was going to offer to help you out."

_"You were?"_ Rei asked at the same time as Taro barked that "I don't _want_ your help!"

"Heh... maybe not. Thing is, whether you want it or not, you need it. See, it seems that despite the odds, you struck lucky... Mewtwo actually seems to know something about how to leave this place. Thing is, he's a Psychic type."

"Tell me something I care about!"

"Tch. I'll get to the point then. He thrashed you. Hell, my lady here has you completely immobilized and she's nowhere near Mewtwo's league yet."

Taro growled impotently, completely unwilling to admit that it was the truth despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

"Now normally, I'd just leave you to your own futile devices." Ranma admitted, perhaps a touch more candidly than was wise, "Thing is though, I'm not sure that I can take Mewtwo myself. Even with my ladies help here... But what do we do when up against someone stronger than us?"

"Temporarily team up, then stab each other in the back at the first opportunity." Taro recited easily, having had this tactic used on himself more tham once, with Ranma usually being the stab-ee.

"Right." Ranma paused for a moment. "Except, you know, could we hold off on your inevitable betrayal until we've actually found a way home?"

"Eh, I'll think about it." Taro grumbled.

"Much obliged. Now, if you can be patient for a little while and let me finish a small errand, then we can make a plan of attack."

"Don't need to plan." Taro grumbled. "Just need to hit it enough."

"Right, because that worked _so_ well for you last time."

Taro very pointedly did not reply.

"I thought so." She focused and passed an image into his head through Gardevoir, and grinned.

"That's Saffron city. Wait for me there, and while you're at it try to familiarize yourself with psychic types. Their techniques, their tendencies in battle, whatever. Probably won't help much, this is Mewtwo we're talking about, but every little bit, right?"

Taro continued to glare absently at her, obviously not paying any sort of attention. She only barely kept from punching him in the face by reminding herself that she didn't actually care whether he did his job or screwed up royally, as it was just busywork and his main function in the actuall fight would be as a combination meatshield/blunt instrument. Mewtwo would never see the psychically-wielded monster club coming.

Even as she chuckled internally and had Gardevoir teleport them away, leaving Taro to either take the advice or not, Rei was beginning to work out a much better plan.

xxx

The first stop wasn't the transport. No, it was that hidden cache of things that had been liberated from those Aqua grunts not as long ago as it felt.

Right there on the beach, Ranma dumped out her entire load from stuff-space, feeling an almost strange sense of vacancy as the not-space fully emptied, then drug the sack out of its hiding place as well and dumped its contents right alongside, into a slightly smaller pile.

It didn't take too long to seperate the pile of her old stuff. Clothing formed a surprisingly small part of it, and so all of the outfits were allowed to stay. Weaponry formed a much larger chunk of the pile, and was rapidly picked apart. In the end, she selected the two best swords, a few of Mousse's chains, and a pair of brass knuckles before setting them in the 'keep' pile and considering what to do with the rest. She could sell them... but it would be difficult to explain where they had all come from, and it would be a huge hassle to sell them off a bit at a time. They just had to go.

She blasted the pile into a solid lump of scrap with a ki blast and had Gardevoir psychically hurl the smoldering metal that remained out to sea.

What was left was a mishmash of magical knicknacks and trinkets of some sort or another. The vast majority she wouldn't sell even if she was starving to death, having had bad experiences with them, and the rest were things she'd just picked up at some point, having earned enough experience with their like to recognize them as magical while at the same time being more than wary enough not to try to figure out how they worked. No, those were going to have to stay until she could either find someplace to dump the damn things where they'd never be found or she figured out if they could be safely destroyed without side effects.

The rest was Pokemon stuff, and Ranma happily ceded their body to Rei for the time being as she sorted through it with one hand, using the other to sift through the data on the pokedex to locate anything that she didn't recognize... which was quite a bit.

_'Why, exactly, are we doing this?'_

_"Preparation. First off, while I can carry a lot more than I should be able to with the Hidden Weapons technique, it has limits... and I've been fast approaching them recently. It was either clear out some room, or spend a week or two training to increase the size of the load I can carry. Second, it's going to be time for us to move on from this place soon, and somehow I doubt that we'll be able to take our bank accounts with us. On the other hand, we have proof positive that anything in those non-space places come along with me for the ride."_

_'I see... In that case...'_

Rei carefully moved a smattering of gold nuggets and a variety of gemstones to the 'keep' pile.

_'Gold has a value that is fairly universal, and with luck will transcend the boundaries of reality as well, and we would have to be hard-pressed to find people who wouldn't accept payment in a rare and shiny enough rock.'_

xxx

There was only one large item shop in every major town. Not for the first time, Ranma cursed the hugely scaled monopoly that meant she'd had to make stops in a dozen towns to sell the loot in 'reasonable' amounts, for the quick cash.

Then she had immediately turned around and blown that cash, as well as the vast majority of the money drained from Aqua, on jewelry and small, but valuable things.

The really annoying bit was that, being female, she could actually get away with this. Any male who pulled a similar stunt would automatically be put under watch for a sudden 'mysterious disappearance' from the Rockets, and with her they just put it up to the natural female instinct to collect pretty things.

Until recently, she hadn't even really known that girls were _supposed_ to like pretty things. It probably came from the personality of the vast majority of the girls Ranma had been in contact with being 'knife wielding maniac' to a greater or lesser degree. Kodachi, for one, Ranma couldn't imagine doing anything with fluffy little bunnies other than feeding them to her ridiculously huge reptile.

On the other hand, combined with the long festival, this meant that nobody was going to notice her going AWOL after this little mission for a good while. With luck, not until she'd left for good.

In the meantime, however, she had to work with her pokemon, to push them to grow as fast as possible in the shortest amount of time.

xxx

A.N. And we're starting to get close to the end of the jaunt through Pokemonland. Emphasis on 'starting'. There's still a ways to go.

For those who care, here's a little update on the dex, the way things stand now.

Ranma/Rei-

Gardevoir, F (69%)

Glaceon, F (63%)

Dratini, M (Leria) (64%)

Houndour, M (Demon) (59%)

Misdreavus, F (Egg) (00%)

Syther, F (Egg) (00%)

Celia-

Umbreon, M (43%)

Pidgeot, F (36%)

Feebass, F (27%)

Meditite, M (28%)

Growlith, F (25%)

Kaoru-

Blaziken, M (45%)

Spheal, M (Egg)(00%)

Bellatrix-

Arbok, F (46%)

Tyrogue, M (Egg) (00%)

For those of you who are BAW!ing over the sudden serious rise in powerlevels, keep in mind that the level-up aura thingy has had some time to work, given that Ranma's been out of action for something ike a week. The aura's effect is, in fact, slowing down... when it started, Ralts was leveling up something like every few minutes. Needless to say, that is no longer the case.

And Celia's been hard at work, behind the scenes... wondering just where the heck her self-proclaimed 'Rival' has gotten off to. Seriously, she'd psyched herself up for the standard regular testing of superiority and everything, but somebody hasn't so much as shown her face. Her frustration may well become relevant at some point.


	14. Chapter 14

Wanderer

xxx

Demon and Leria had actually had very little time outside of the balls. Really, there was no excuse, but there had just been such a _rush_ of things to do shortly after the casino incident that properly training _any_ of their pokemon had slipped the minds of both Ranma and Rei.

Nothing to be done about that, really. All they could do was belatedly attempt to make up for the period of lost personal instruction.

For Demon, this wasn't so difficult. He'd apparently been growing quite antsy in his containment and, after a few minutes of simply running flat out in a circle of his own volition to get the lead out, he'd taken to the training with great enthusiasm, and showed promise in learning to think outside the neat little box that his techniques had been stacked within, rather than the 'stand there and hit each other until one of you falls down' mentality that seemed to prevail.

Leria, on the other hand... not so much. Part of it was simply breed diversity. While Houndour was a relatively active line of pokemon, daily expending a great deal of energy, Dratini were much more... placid, by nature, as evidenced by the tendency for the final stage of their line to be at least slightly roly-poly. It seemed that there was a very finite amount of time with which to impress upon a weaker Dratini the habit and merits of exercise and work.

A timespan that they seemed to have missed entirely, what with everything else that had happened. Leria was, to be utterly frank, a lazy worm of a wyrm, who only put any effort into Ranma's training when he was actively being attacked by another of the pokemon, and then only to lash out at the attacker as violently as possible until they backed off, and otherwise would just lie in the sun, so very motionless and quiet that she had to check periodically just to make sure that he was still breathing. Ranma was fairly sure that she _could_ break the bad habits Leria had so quickly fallen into, but that would take a very great deal of time. Time which, if they were fortunate, would in the near future no longer be spent in this world.

No, after a few frustratedly wasted hours trying to force Leria's bulk into motion, Ranma had broken and admitted that this was going nowhere fast and, while she could _probably_ make progress with the slothful serpent eventually, it would take far too much time away from more important matters.

Using Gardevoir as a translator of sorts, she dropped the ultimatum. Either Leria would shape up, or he would be traded in. The only reply she'd gained was a vague sort of indifference to the proposal.

Disgruntled and privately irritated at the living proof that, no matter her own skill, she could fail to teach if the student simply refused to learn, she had returned Leria to his pokeball and left him there as she continued to instruct and correct her other pokemon.

It wasn't until some time later, after the balls with the eggs inside them started to beep annoyingly to call Ranma's attention to the fact that their contents were getting _real_ close to hatching that Gardevoir had gotten around to mentally suggesting that Leria had been under the impression that she was bluffing. Apparently, Dragon types were rare enough that your average trainer would pretty much gave them free reign over what they wanted to do and when, simply counting themselves fortunate to actually have one.

Conveying all that through a series of vague images and 'feelings' wasn't at all easy, and a wellspring of sympathy, Ranma wasn't. Easily sensing this, Gardevoir backed off. She had, after all, only meant to make the red facet of the mistress aware of that subtlety, and hadn't really formed any attachments to the newcomer and so wouldn't be particularly heartbroken to see him go herself. His flat refusal to follow the orders of their mistress hadn't exactly done much to endear him to the more obedient of the group.

Nearby, Demon and Glaceon had ignored the whole sordid display as their sparring degenerated into a 'play' brawl, elemental techniques generally forgotten in little nips and roughhousing, until Ranma finished settling the eggs and turned her attention back to them. Then they were all business, under her suspicious but relatively lenient eye. Little deviations from her training plan were acceptable in the same way that really big ones were absolutely not..

xxx

Taro wasn't comfortable in heavily urban areas. He'd been born of the deepest chinese countryside, and so knew wilderness like the back of his hand, that being what he had been raised in and what he was familiar with. Cities, large ones, constructed haphazardly with apparently no sense of order to which buildings should be where, or how the streets should be laid out? Not so much.

The maze-like web of streets and roads criss-crossing the jungle of concrete and steel were difficult for him to navigate. Normally, he would have just transformed and flown over the town until he found and landed near a likely spot. In his experience, the urbanites would carefully turn their faces away and, within an hour, happily convince themselves that they'd been imagining things.

Here? Here he would be almost immediately swarmed with prepubescent morons and squealing people of all ages and varieties, crawling out of the woodworks to pelt him with what might as well have been painted rocks. Fighting them was a possibility, but _none_ of them fought on their own, instead having one to six smaller monsters than himself take up the battle in their place, which apparently healed _really damn quick_, because the morons would collect them after he'd won, run off, then _come back, sometimes only hours later, to try again_. No, he'd decided that he'd have to save the Monster for tough fights and traveling _really_ long distances, otherwise even he would eventually be overrun by exhaustion, as there was apparently no end to the little terrors. As long as he was here... he would have to be subtle.

Taro _hated_ subtlety with an entirely undeserved passion. It was so much easier to simply smash things apart, and then take what you wanted from the rubble left behind.

xxx

"You're a tricky one to find."

Ranma blinked slowly, eyebrows arching slightly.

"Given that I've been in at least a dozen different cities throughout three or four seperate regions in the past day, I'm kinda impressed that you found me at all, Doctor Joy."

"The tracking device in your pocket made it a lot easier." She flippantly replied.

Ranma very carefully didn't respond to the jibe, despite suddenly recalling that she'd slipped her little 'R' badge there at some point instead of tucking it into the non-space up her sleeve. She was forced to wonder what other loose ends she may have missed.

_"There are a great many extra features to the standard pokedex, if you'll recall. Undoubtedly there is a tracking device or three embedded there as well."_

Ranma did not twitch.

"So... Question's not how you found me, it's 'why?'. Not much difference, from my point of view."

Joy suddenly gave off a feeling that twinged every one of those sensations bred into everything that had ever fled from a larger predator. It was very uncomfortable... like she was standing in a room with Nabiki, and both of them knew that there was a handful of yen folded over in Ranma's side pocket.

Her smile hadn't shifted in the slightest, but it suddenly sent a chill up Ranma's spine as she tugged out a sheet of paper and flicked it through the air. Ranma caught it and stared for a long moment.

"You... can't be serious about this." She deadpanned.

"Gotta pay my bills somehow, you know, and we're short a model this month."

Ranma_ almost_ offered to just give her money to make her go away, but managed to choke the words down. Joy was reminding her more and more of Nabiki, right now, and she'd long learned from experience that the worst possible thing she could do would be to reveal just how much currency she could currently bring to bear.

"What if this contract just... disappeared?" Ranma wondered aloud.

"Copies." Joy countered with amusement, as Ranma checked the signature and confirmed that yes, it was photocopied.

"Of... course." She grumbled.

More and more like Nabiki with every second that passed. Trickery, contracts, more trickery, the money thing, and illicit photography to boot. Ranma mentally stepped back to weigh the situation. To her extreme good fortune, she could vaguely recall that the magazine hadn't actually been... explicit. Instead, it had walked a very fine line, giving enough ground to grant a certain illusion, but not going...

Ranma shook herself, wondering how she'd even begun to consider...

_"It's the super-puberty thing."_ Rei helpfully interjected. _"Apparently, if you don't have a lot of the special drugs Ritsuko manufactured built up in your system, it plays all sorts of havoc with you."_

_'Great. You know what... I think she might be bluffing. So...'_

Ranma _moved._ Any more than that, Joy really couldn't say... simply that one moment Ranma was over there, deep in thought, and the next she was suddenly pinning her to a tree.

"You know... the boss wanted me to see a shrink." Ranma purred contemplatively. "Apparently he's worried about what mental stress and trauma may have occured while I was under that little psuedo-torture hypnosis thing. Who knows? I could just... crack... at any time, and from the least little thing."

She let the implied threat hang in the air between them as Joy blinked... then giggled.

"Really, Ranma-chan? But don't you know? I'm just too cute for something like that to happen to."

Ranma's hand blurred, and Joy only had a moment for her eyes to widen before a fist slammed into the tree, only the barest of margins away from her head, and then was tugged back out, dripping splinters and sawdust, from the new cavity.

Ranma stepped back, and glared at her fist for a moment as though it had betrayed her, causing all sorts of uncomfortable questions to rise in the doctor's mind. Mostly variations of why she was angry. Was it because she'd not been able to keep herself from lashing out? Or worse, was it simply because she _hadn't intended to miss_?

"Tch." She grumbled, finally. "You're playing a dangerous game, doc. But luckily enough, you're right. I always have had a weakness for the cute girls."

Ranma winked widely, and Joy wasn't sure whether to laugh in hysterical amusement or to collapse to her knees in paralyzed shock. Her body compromised with a trembling chuckle.

Gardevoir was terribly confused as Ranma dragged her away from the training to a more secluded area, a still pale and sweaty doctor setting up a camera.

It wasn't long after that she left, and even with the photographs that had prompted her visit in hand. Although, despite the technical 'win' on her part, she had come to the conclusion that it would probably be best that these particular pictures not actually make it to their intended place in the magazine, she forget that she'd _ever_ tricked a signature out of the scary redhead, and all the copies and original document be destroyed.

The editor would have to understand that she just hadn't been able to find a substitute for their ill model, and so would be filling in herself, again.

xxx

_'That was.... mean of you.'_ Rei noted as she supervised the continued training. Ranma had withdrawn into their overlapping mind after the doctor had taken her leave, for introspection.

_"Maybe. Probably, in fact. But can't you feel it? Like every cell of your body is twitching randomly, humming with energy that wants to be used? Before we switched, I didn't even notice, but..."_

Rei frowned as she realized that Ranma was right. It seemed that her whole being was vibrating with intensity for some reason. Her back, especially where she had recalled wings sprouting during the transformation, was especially... itchy, for lack of a better word.

_'I do not know. There is much... about my very existence that I simply do not have any answers to. As far as I know... When Rei were created, my sisters and I, we were the first Nephilim. There is simply no way to tell what we may be going through, or how to handle it, because simply put I am the first to have ever experienced it. I only even knew of the change beforehand because when it happened, it surprised a great many scientists, and they performed a great many studies and experiments on what remained of the second.'_

_"So... for all we know, this is all the warning we're going to get before our skin decides to boil off because of an allergy to air, or something."_

Rei didn't bother to refute the possibility. She did, however, privately consider the unpleasantness of the possibility, and immediately changed the subject.

_"What confuses me, though... even after that, you simply gave her what she wanted."_

_'Hey... not like it mattered, right? It's not like I'm not used to that sort of thing, and we're leaving soon anyway."_ She was obviously uncomfortable with her own statement, but quickly disguised it. _'Sides... I was kinda serious about my weakness for the cute ones.'_

Rei noted that carefully.

xxx

_'You know... I'm pretty sure that these are supposed to be green. Not black. And bigger. But also green.'_

Rei noted the fact absently as she held a strip of pressed... something that imitated jerked meat up near the newly-hatched insect's face and marveled at its design as it leaned in and savaged at the food with her... maw. She would have called it a beak, but the term didn't exactly fit, despite that without any actual teeth there wasn't much else to call it. The razor-sharp chitinous edges suited the need well enough though, it seemed.

_"Only so much can fit inside an egg of that size. It will grow... is growing rapidly, in fact. In the past ten minutes, its size has increased by a full centimeter or so. I am more curious about what sort of outside forces could come together to create a being who's forelegs have been sacrificed for blades. Certainly, they would be more useful for killing prey, but aside from that they seem to be a less than intelligent design. Even the mantis, who I must presume this creature was based off of, has four other limbs and I do not believe their claws to be anywhere near so sharp as these. In that light, I do not feel that the color matters much, and if you looked closely you would have noticed that it is actually a very dark shade of green. Not black."_

The scyther croaked softly as she nudged her head at Rei's hand, insistent on getting more _food_. She tugged out another strip of the whatever-it-was and let her lay waste to it.

_'Leaving aside the talk of color-schemes and insects... when do you think the other one'll hatch? Should be any moment...'_

Ranma was interrupted by a very pale-purpley head poking slowly out of the other egg, intact next to the shards left of the one the scyther had clawed its way out of. The newly 'born' Misdreavus looked around and floated out and upwards. Rei carefully lifted the undamaged egg and stared at it for a moment before quietly shaking it next to her ear, confirming her sudden suspicion.

_"There is still something inside."_

_'O-Kay.... Ghost types have suddenly become really creepy. I wasn't expecting...'_

_"An actual ghost? I had not either. I wonder what is meant to be done with the..."_

They both stared at the dead egg for several long moments before Rei set it back down. A small part of her had been seized with a sudden morbid curiosity and desire to crack it open, to see the whatever-it-was that had remained inside. The vast majority, however, was quietly disgusted at the inclination, and shunted the impulse away.

_'Just... leave it there, for now. Before we move on from here, switch back with me and... I'll put it away and hang on to it until we figure out what to do with it.'_

Rei nodded in appreciation, somewhat unsure about the situation herself. Somehow, she hadn't yet read anything to do with this. And she'd read a lot.

They were distracted from that matter by a slight keening from the Scyther by them, half again as large as it had been only the last time they'd looked, and obviously _starving_ if it's pitiful look was anything to come by.

xxx

It was only hours later, after the sun had long since set, that the Scyther finished growing at roughly the same size as Gardevoir, and having consumed the vast majority of their food in order to fuel the rapid growth. Then she had curled up on the ground, apparently exhausted from the stress that had been placed on her body.

In contrast, the Misdreavus had barely eaten a half of a pressed food-stick, nibbling at it when nobody was looking, and didn't seem inclined to sleep at all. It was entirely possible that she simply didn't require sleep. It wasn't until Ranma noticed the subtle drawing sensation at their aura that it became obvious that she was sustaining herself mostly on the draining of their energy. It slackened and intensified sometimes, and the drain was at its most powerful when they both focused on the eerieness of the dead egg it had left behind, but even then it was barely a trickle. It was only the work of a moment to search out the entry on Misdreavus on the pokedex and determine that it was actually a phobovore, and so derived its nutrients primarily from the ingestion of fear.

An unfortunate tidbit of information that would no doubt have altered their selection had either of them been aware of it beforehand. Still, it seemed that it could subsist on so much as unease, and after Ranma spent a moment visualizing cats, the drawing link had slammed open to a dozen times its previous size, greedily sucking up the offered terror before detaching itself. The Misdreavus had appeared much more active after that, seeming to feel the need to burn off a little of the sudden influx of energy.

It was times like this that Rei almost envied Ranma. There had been no real, detailed studies on either pokemon breed, and so little to no documented information to draw upon, leaving Rei in the dark. Ranma, however, had taken only what she'd just seen of the two and already combined it with that to put together a few viable training plans for the both of them, as well as several possible and equally acceptable end results for both.

Then, naturally, she'd turned around and gone to sleep within their mind, not even bothering to give the vaguest of explanations for the end result. Rei could probably just take the information, yes, but along with that being a line on personal boundaries she wasn't quite willing to cross, she really wasn't sure how to begin such an endeavor.

Instead, she was doing what she did better than Ranma, intensive research through what passed for the internet here. Simply incredible. That they could transmit living beings from one place to another as data, but things like simple internet search engines were still in their most infantile of stages....

Still, she persevered, and collected as much data as possible on the Scyther and Misdreavus breeds. And, of course, on Mewtwo. Only a fool would rush into battle without taking the time to arm themselves with as much knowledge as possible.

xxx

Ranma woke, as per norm, to a brain-frying shot of electricity from within the skull and covered with water that had poured all over their clothes during the shift. It was more than slightly irritating, as they could not be wrung out so easily as chinese silks, but at the same time whatever container the water had been in couldn't always remain upright through a sudden boneless slump. And it wasn't like she could just ask Rei to take all her clothes off....

She realized suddenly that she'd spent several seconds too long lingering on the image that thought had conjured up and hastily jerked her train of thought onto another track entirely.

Training. She still had some work to do with the Scyther before any serious training could begin. It wouldn't do to try to teach a critical technique, only to find that her exoskeleton prevented her from bending enough to pull it off, or some equally stupid last-minute discovery.

Misdreavus... would probably be working with actual attack techniques as a secondary point, at best. Other tactics were the way to go... Illusions, trickery... maybe what ninjutsu stealth techniques that could be passed on and weren't automatically invalidated by the inherent abilities to fly, phase through solid objects, and turn damn close to invisible? No, on second thought just about everything ninja trained to do in that regard, she could already do automatically. And better.

If Ranma introduced her to 'Natsu, it would probably end in either utter fascination, or an immediate hatred at first sight. Something to look forward to, when she finally got home.

But no. Status effects. Hypnosis, poison, paralysis. That was the way to go. Stuff that made the opponent steadily weaker and weaker, while Misdreavus did her best to avoid being so much as an available target. Not like right now, where she was hovering about twelve feet up and staring with childlike wonder at the rising of the sun.

Ranma took a moment to recall that _technically_, she actually was an infant, less than a day old, and so had an excuse.

So, for the first day of training... Ranma's train of thought came to a grinding halt as her stomach made its opinion known. Training was all well and good, but the _first_ thing they were doing was going to be eating. The second would be getting food to eat later. Training would keep until that was done.

xxx

Correction. The first thing they would be doing would be getting down to the town to buy food, because they simply didn't have enough left in reserve for a full meal when Ranma checked.

Still, the change of plans meant that Ranma had plenty of time to gather information. His target was, interestingly enough, aboard the same vessel captained by that swordsman... the only person with any sort of martial ability she'd yet encountered. Oh, she'd wandered past some people who seemed to _think_ they were martial artists... but really, they wouldn't even give Akane any trouble in a match, and therefore didn't count. That swordsman though... he could probably give Kuno a run for his money.

So, still not great, but far and beyond anyone else from this place. And it seemed likely they'd be running into each other again. What a... fortunate coincidence. Seemed like she might have a chance to mix business and pleasure.

Once the ship made port, anyway. There was still a few days before that happened. Plenty of time to set up an actual plan for this thing.

The boss had probably intended that she take tat time off to enjoy the festival or something. Ranma had different means of enoying herself, though, most of which could be summed up as 'do something pointless, call it training, and wring some sort of useful ability out of it... somehow.'

The waterfall was the site of thousands of gallons of water pouring down a small cliff face with every minute that passed. Most of it stuck pretty close to the cliff itself, but there was enough spray that everything within a couple of feet seemed to be in a perpetual, heavy rainstorm.

"This'll do." Ranma decided, setting the pokemon back to their own training before considering the falls.

It wasn't quite perfect for her needs. The point was to make it so that she could, in a pinch, either deflect water away from herself without getting wet without neding to think about it, or to use the soul of ice to change the temperature before it hit. It was already cold, though, as most of the water in the world was, so the point was more towards the first. Still, if a time ever came that she _had_ to avoid the body change at all costs for whatever reason, skills like them would be very useful.

She was completely drenched within minutes, but after about an hour she started to work out a way to force her ki into a semi-solid field to deflect the spray of droplets. It was draining to keep up for more than a few seconds, though, which would significantly reduce its utility in case of sudden rainstorms, but it was a start, at least.

Not daunted by the slow beginning, Ranma built a fire, humming to herself as she dried out, wondering if the Magikarp she could see swimming about in the river would taste any good.

She was interrupted from her thoughts by a short, sharp cough from the young man that had arrived a few minutes ago, that she had been ignoring.

"Excuse me, miss. There was a flyer set up mentioning a possible trade for a high-level dratini. As the location mentioned was 'that waterfall outside of town', and this is the only matching area, I take it you set up the offer?" He asked, waving the torn flier in one hand.

"Mhm." Ranma replied, still mostly focused on what she was going to eat, but giving the man a fragment of the attention he wanted.

"Ah. You didn't actually note any specific breed or level you wished in exchange. But I've got an equal offer for you." His eyes flashed. "A Shad-"

"No thanks." Ranma rejected, not even allowing him to finish the word before lifting a hand in refusal. "Let's cut to brass tacks. I'm a Rocket... I know a little bit about Cypher's Shadow programs, and I'm getting rid of this dratini because I don't feel like going through the effort to make it properly submit to my training regimens. Why would I want to trade it for something that would be even more difficult to keep in line? I'm not interested in being a guinea pig for another organization's experiments."

"I see." He replied coldly, a stark contrast to his initially warm offer. "But at the same time, an unevolved Dratini of particularly high levels is suspiciously out of place in and of itself. It could then easily be inferred that you, yourself, are attempting to push off one of your organization's failed experiments..."

Ranma snorted with amused disgust, and quickly made up a convincing lie to cover herself with.

"Suppose that's true. But there's other explanations. Let's say, just hypothetically of course, that a certain senior official of my organization happens to have a stash of some very rare candies that he's been saving up for a rainy day. Now lets say that this hypothetical person happened to leave his door open one day, and a certain pokemon happened to be in the area. Theoretically, this pokemon might have slipped out when its trainer was busy with the rest of her pokemon, and perhaps not paying as much attention as she might ought to have been. Now, just hypothetically, lets say that this dragon-type pokemon got into the unnamed senior official's rare candies and gorged its lazy butt. Now in that case, if the poor young trainer happened to find out about this before her superior did, knowing there was no way she could replace the goods, she might immediately lay out hints that a wild pokemon got in somehow and wreaked havoc, then got out on a job right away before anyone could note that her dratini is suddenly a lot higher leveled today than it was yesterday, and start asking awkward questions. In such a case, it would behoove the redheaded trainer to be rid of that pokemon before returning from her job, would it not?" Ranma said, laying it on perhaps just a touch too thick.

"Then in short, if you return with the Dratini, you are going to be in a very great deal of trouble with your superiors." The man murmured, amused at the tale.

"Now, see, I never said that was the case. This is all theory, a mental exercise if you will, but I really do need to get rid of the lazy worm in a plausible manner."

"Of course. And if you're really not interested in the Shadow Lapras, then I do have an alternate offer. A Shiny Beldum, although I must admit that it's at a very low level."

"The rarity more than compensates." Ranma insisted, tugging Leria's pokeball out of what seemed to be a pocket but was actually non-space. "And besides, getting them while they're weaker and more pliable means that it's easier to lock them into a specific training regiment. That's the problem I had with this one... started working too late, and it had its own ideas what to do. Prestige of a Dragon or not, I just can't afford to have a wild card like that in the set, and it would take far too long for my interests to break it of the habit." She paused a moment. "Not to mention, what I'd have to do to pull it off would probably get me a decade or three in some slammer if I got caught."

"Fair enough." the man agreed, tugging out a luxury ball. "We'll use your pokedex as the medium."

Only hesitating for a moment before fumbling around with the tiny machine, Ranma swore softly under her breath as she tapped buttons. Eventually the man grew bored with the display and clearly instructed how to set up the trading module, carefully ignoring the dark flush of humiliation on the other party's face.

Twenty minutes later, the Cypher official walked casually away, Leria in one pocket, and Ranma carefully hunted and pecked to open a page on the floating chunk of metal in front of her, quickly reading up on it and its evolutions.

"Tank." She decided after a few minutes. "Definitely a tank. Like Ryoga, if he were a pokemon, and probably three times as smart."

xxx

A.N.

It's baa-aack. Y'know, if anyone cares. And somewhere, that unreasonably powerful Dratini is now going to become an unreasonably powerful Dragonite, causing all sorts of problems for whatever sap with a pokemon-stealing device but some sort of enforced conscience is most recently set up against the Cypher syndicate peoples. But, eh, who cares about them.

So, finally pushed through the block on this chapter. Stuff. You know how it is. Once again, completely freaking forgot where the next arc would be taking place, so I guess I'll just forget about advance planning and decide whenever I get down to that chapter. Shouldn't be too long, if you're counting by chapters. If you're counting by the time it takes me to write those chapters....

OH HEY, LOOK, POKEDEX TIME!

Ranma/Rei-

Gardevoir, F (72)

Glaceon, F (67)

Beldum (12)

Houndour, M (Demon) (63)

Misdreavus, F (18)

Scyther, F (18)

Actually, the numbers are swiftly becoming irrelevant, I think. They're either 'strong' or 'will be strong really soon'. I think this will be the last time I put that thing into the authors notes, I guess.

Anyway, most of the focus on this is what'll be the Final Battle of the world before Ranma 'n' Rei get a McGuffin to leave with. Eh, you'd probably already guessed it was heading that way so not really a spoiler either. But what has become of Celia?


	15. Chapter 15

Wanderer

And you thought I was done with that little scrap of paper from the beginning too. Whooops!

xxx

Given that this job was primarily an enforced vacation, Ranma had set up a plan to raid the target's house immediately, but had decided to hold off on putting it into effect, other than stage one, 'find out where it is'.

It hadn't been that hard. It was the only multi-story, sprawling mansion in town. Guy might be old and possibly senile, but he was definitely loaded.

The rest of it could wait until she could finish the whole business in as short a time as possible. In, make demands, get paid off, out, and on to more important things. Or, if she found the time to fit a swordfight with the good captain into the schedule, more fun things. Whichever.

In any case, she spent a week waiting for the S.S. Anne to pull onto the horizon in deep training of herself and her pokemon, in preparation for the battle with Mewtwo, and occasionally humming 'Eye of the Tiger' to herself and taking snapshots with the pokedex's camera function to later make into a training montage, if she ever had insomnia troubles some boring night.

The pokemon had all progressed nicely. Beldum had evolved rapidly to its final stage, Metagross, which had been fortunate, as Ranma had been forced to admit that the tiny chunk of metal plus creepy eyeball hadn't been that useful when its only ability had been to slam itself bodily into things. The walking tank that could rip trees up from the ground and fling them a long damn way away _with its mind_ was a whole lot more promising, not even beginning on what the thing could do to you if you were foolish enough to attempt closing with it.

It didn't sleep much, and seemed to prefer its rewards to be along the lines of simply allowing it to wander off at night and deforest part of the area as it hunted for local pokemon. Not because Ranma couldn't keep it fed on her own, but more because it seemed to prefer its prey to be alive and, probably, screaming as it slammed itself down on top of them and crushed them through its relatively tiny mouth, on its lower surface.

That would probably end up playing merry hell with the local ecosystem, but Ranma had discovered that she didn't particularly care much.

Misdreavus habitually accompanied it on those nightime excursions, exulting in the delicious terror of the hunted pokemon. Until Metagross finally killed and ate them, anyway. The two seemed to have somehow bonded, in a nightmare inducing fashion.

And on that note, Ranma had had to have a long, stern talk with Misdreavus about appropriate and inappropriate targets for the fiddling about with of dreams. It essentially boiled down to 'don't screw around with me(or Rei), but as long as I don't ever have to hear about it go ahead and knock yourself out with anyone else.'

In some ways, Ranma was a very strict taskmaster. In others, she was absurdly lax.

Demon, now evolved into a Houndoom from what best guess was the time outside of the ball, had grown similarly attached to Glaceon, and Rei had eventually brought to Ranma's attention that the two would regularly slip off for an hour or two at a time. Ranma had brushed off the implications.

Then an egg had shown up in the middle of the campsite, Demon and Glaceon sitting sheepishly on either side of it with a huge 'whoops' expression on both of their faces that nobody seemed quite sure how they'd gotten across, and Ranma had knocked down a fair-sized tree with her forehead.

Ignoring Rei's incandescent scholarly rage-rant about the logical inconsistency of an egg being concieved and laid in less than a night, and the 'mother' being not so much as slightly winded after forcing out an object roughly three quarters as large as she was, Ranma had had Gardevoir step in and a very awkward conversation-of-sorts ensued.

Fortunately, either neither species was particularly parental, or it was just that neither of these two specific members of their species were, because they weren't any more interested in taking care of it than Ranma was interested in giving the two time off to take care of it. End result, Gardevoir had teleported it off to some relatively secluded patch of forest where it would probably survive long enough to hatch, and Ranma had simply suggested that it would probably be best that this not happen again, but admitted that she didn't really have any place in forbidding them their fun.

That night had been awkward, as both of them had decided to show their appreciation of the decision by snuggling on top of the sleeping bag, and Gardevoir had joined them, presumably to make some kind of point or other, which Ranma had missed with the whole 'pinned down and barely able to breath' thing.

Scyther had come along very well, having been taught a style using two blades, for obvious reasons, and had passed Kuno by the middle of the second day, and only continued to climb in 'swordsmanship' abilities, along with the other things Ranma had thrown in to cover holes in the style, or just on a whim.

And Gardevoir was pretty much reaching ludicrous levels of power at this point, the first to breach the low nineties. Skill wise, if they restricted themselves to martial arts, or 'dances' in training battles, Ranma would still win nine times out of ten, with one draw, but once special techniques got thrown into the fray, she tended to be left in the dust by the awesome array of phenominal power that could be levied against her, to which she could only bring to bear a few ki tricks of her own. She tended to be completely overwhelmed in those fights unless she had the time to set up something to win, and luring her into a tornado had only worked the first time. It hadn't been that strong either, as she'd pretty much failed to get much of a rise out of Gardevoir before pulling it off. In general, Ranma only actually managed to win perhaps three out of ten of those matches, with an occasional draw every so often, and only because Gardevoir made a point out of staying out of her mind while they sparred.

Ranma had a lot to do to catch up to that level, and had no intention of letting anyone from Nerima ever hear about any of those sparring matches.

For her own part, she could now manifest a barrier of ki solid enough to repel water for up to an hour, even while she sat directly beneath the falls, and her reserves were swelling rapidly enough that she was able to keep it up longer every time. Rei had been marginally impressed, then revealed a trick of her own that she'd been working on, fiddling about with their nervous system to trick the curse by tricking their body into thinking they'd been splashed... or something. Ranma hadn't really understood, but that was what it had simplified down to.

She'd immediately called bullshit, only to be humbled as Rei forcibly traded places with her, then let her simmer for about an hour before she switched bodies again. Ranma couldn't quite figure out how she'd pulled it off, except for the AT field stuff that she'd never quite figured out, but was apparently something like both ki and magic and nothing like either. It gave her a headache, but as long as it worked, it worked, so she didn't really feel like complaining too much as she set to figuring out how to make some new, feasible technique with what she had to hand.

By the time the S.S. Anne finally appeared as a speck of black against the blue, the campsite was, of course, utterly demolished and wildlife had taken up the habit of making wide detours around its general area, a practice that would be passed on for many years from severely traumatized Rattata elders to their youthful kin.

xxx

_'Okay, we could do this quietly, making some effort at proffesionalism, or... you know, forget it. I mean, I guess we might be here another month, two months at max, but I'm just kind of sick of this place.'_

_"Do as you please, Ranma."_

Ranma dropped down and kicked open the double doors of the mansion.

"Please remain calm, I'm robbing the place!" She yelled cheerfully as she swaggered into the room.

She was greeted by dusty, cobwebbed emptiness.

"It's empty." She deadpanned. "Of course the penny pinching skinflint has no servants hanging around the place while he's on vacation. Of freaking course. And I made a dramatic entrance too... I am such a moron. Whatever, let's see... something that looks really valuable, sentimentality wise... hmm."

Ranma started wandering the mansion, or would have, if a Gastly hadn't faded into view directly in front of her, seeming to radiate disapproval and intent for her to leave.

"I really don't have time for this." Ranma grumbled. "Gardevoir? Mind Crush."

"Gaa-?" The ghost got out before Gardevoir set a hand on top of its head. Then its eyes went vacant, its tongue lolled out, and it slowly floated to the side, gradually spinning around.

_"A rather... harsh solution."_ Rei noted, with the slightest touch of approval.

"Don't worry, I'm... pretty sure that's not permament." Ranma said before pausing. "Like... sixty-five, seventy percent. Probably. There's a decent chance it's not going to be brain dead forever, anyway, and it's not like you can experiment with these things on people you intend to keep around."

_"Point. However, 'people'?" _Rei pointed out, dryly amused at the choice of words for the usually-less-than-people-shaped monsters.

"... Shut up. Let's get to the looting!" Ranma responded, ignoring the jibe.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much in the way of sentimentally precious objects to be found, as they begun a rapid sweep of the building. Plenty of normally valuable stuff, but nothing obviously sentimental, like a trophy or inscribed gift from someone, or anything along those lines.

Ranma was just about to the point of stuffing some of the particularly shiny stuff into a sack and either bluffing her way through the meeting with it or just pawning it off and claiming that he'd given her that much money right off the bat, when she wandered into a section of the second floor that was clean, and obviously lived in. There was a small kitchen, filled with many preserved foods and a few dishes soaking quietly in a tub of water, a restroom, and a third door that whoever lived here was probably behind. Ranma opened it and looked in.

The wide-eyed occupant looked back out.

It was obvious, upon careful inspection, that the surprised little girl wasn't human. If Ranma knew a bit more, she would quickly have identified her as a Hybrid of some sort of plant type, most likely a Tangela, but for now she just classified her as 'creepy little tentacle girl'. Rei, for her part, _did_ know enough to recognize this, and would fill in the blanks for her companion shortly, but had more pressing concerns.

_"This is a very, very bad idea."_ she warned, more than familiar enough with the way Ranma thought by now to put together what she was considering. She was flatly ignored.

"Why hello there, sweetie!" Ranma said, grinning as widely as though she'd won a jackpot. "How would you like to help big sister out with a little something?"

xxx

By some ridiculously fortunate coincidence, there was a phone downstairs with a list of numbers, one of which was the owners cell. Ranma was more than pleased to use it in her cobbled together plan, which had already taken a couple drastic shifts.

"Who is this?" The old man said on the other end of the line. "Who are you, and why are you calling from my house?"

Stupid caller ID removing the dramatic tension...

"Who I am is not important." Ranma drawled. "You should be more concerned with what I am, and whom I represent. You see, you've been a naughty, naughty boy..."

"Are you Carol? You know I don't like phone sex, Carol, and I think there's something wrong with your voice. Do you have a cold?"

"_I'm not Carol!"_ Ranma barked into the phone.

"Eh? Oh. I'm sorry. Genevieve, is that you, shnookums?"

"NO! Listen, you insipid, senile, lecherous little twit, I'm not any one of your whores on retainer!" Ranma snarled before composing herself. "I am... an operative, of a significant organization, to whom you owe a certain debt..."

"If this is about that brothel in Cinnabar, I can assure you that the checks in the mail, young lady."

"SHUT UP! Fuck this! Fuck dramatics, fuck standard operating procedure, fuck this telephone, and fuck you too!" Ranma yelled, hold over her temper slipping severely. "I'll cut to the chase. Rocket. Gambling. Debt. I'm here to collect. I don't care if you can't recall immediately, get your warty wrinkled ass up onto the deck of the ship pronto, I'm teleporting in right now."

She slammed the reciever down, bitterly reflecting that that could have gone _much_ better, picked up the sack that she'd stuffed the bound and gagged Hybrid into and waving Gardevoir over to do her stuff. The next moment, they were on the deck of the S.S. Anne.

"Okay old guy! In the fluffy bathrobe! Yes you! It's negotiating time!" She barked immediately, ignoring the half dozen or so armed escort that had leveled weapons her way as just another slight hitch in what had once been a vague but simple plan.

"I see. Gambling debt, is it?" The old man mused, eyes wandering as he tucked the cell back into his pocket.. "I'm afraid I can't recall, quite. Are you sure you don't have the wrong person, miss?"

There were a variety of ominous clicking and cocking noises as the goon squad subtly hinted that it might be a very good idea for her to 'realize' that that was indeed correct.

"Okay. Look, not intimidated. I'm aware this is a huge hassle for both of use, and five hundred thousand credits is probably chump change for you which is why you don't remember, but dammit, I got a job to do here. Now. Let's play a round of 'guess what's in the sack', geezerman!"

"You're very much correct about it being pocket change. I'm afraid I'm not at all amused, but I suppose I'll play along for a moment. 'What, I wonder, could possibly be wriggling about in the sack slung over the young lady's shoulder?'" The old man dryly stated, forgoing the order to fire for a moment.

"Well, since you ask so nicely, I'll _tell_ you!" Ranma chirped, happy that something was finally going relatively to plan. "It's a little something I picked up from a nice little place around here, and brought along to fill our little chat with a touch of light hearted charm and glee, as though I were a stacked Santa Clause bearing cookies who were shaking you down for cash! Except-" She whipped the sack off. "It's actually a terrified little girl-thing, and neither cookies nor brownies, nor any other confectionary item that could be named. Isn't she darling! Say hello to gramps here, pudding!"

"'Hewwo, Gwampa!'" Ranma mocked, sqeezing at the girl's cheeks in a fascimile of speech, ignoring the way she'd frozen up in more terror than before.

_"You know, you seem to be getting just a little unhinged. Perhaps-"_

_'Shut. Up. I'm busy here.'_

"Ah ah ah!" Ranma reprimanded, tugging out a short knife and setting it to the girls throat as several of the goons steeped forward. "This is a hostage situation, gentlemen. Just you sit tight and point those toys of yours somewhere else for a while, let grampy here write a check, I'll give back the little granddaughter... thing, and you can all have fun shooting at me whilst I make my daring getaway, alrighty?"

"Granddaughter?" The old man wondered. "Is that... what you think that it is?"

The old man pulled a revolver of some sort and, in the moment of surprise, fired off three shots. The hybrid barely had time to flinch before her head erupted in a spray of gore, splattering the left side of Ranma's face and going suddenly limp.

"Haa." The old man sighed. "Youth these days... so swiftly they jump to conclusions. As it happens, I am a prime contributor to Cypher, and in exchange for access to my vast wealth, they allow me some little liberties. Contacts. Access to failed experiments. What you had there was nothing of any relation me, but the latest in a long string of attempts to create a proper hybrid of Pokemon base stock, rather than of human. A failure for Cyphers purposes, as it couldn't in any way actually fight after the treatment, but it pleased my tastes enough that they were more than happy to allow me to take it for my own. I'm sure that the next failure will be more than capable of filling its place."

"Yeah... well... fuck you too old man." Ranma countered eloquently, then frowned. "Wait... tastes? You can't seriously mean... Ew. Just ew."

"The Tangela was approximately twenty five when it underwent the treatment." The old man insisted.

"Yeah, maybe." Ranma grudged. "But on the other hand, she _looks_ what, maybe ten? And you in your mid eighties? Lemme repeat, even if the poor doll actually looked her age, Ew."

"I tire of these wordgames. Shoot her."

The goons opened fire. It was several minutes before they realized that Gardevoirs eyes were glowing and their bullets were deflecting upwards while Ranma squatted down and examined the fallen hybrid. Eventually, they stopped, humiliated, and began to reload.

"Why do I even pay you people?" The old man wondered.

"Hey, age spots! I think she's still alive." Ranma pointed out, listening to a rasping gurgle and watching the way her chest continued to move.

"Really? Fascinating. Tangela are noted to have a regeneration factor, regrowing tendrils that are torn off through chance. It seems some of that carried over. This opens up a _world_ of delightful new possibilities for my little pet, presuming it survives."

"Okay, see, the info was nice and all, but now I'm kinda squicked enough to want to just finish the poor thing off instead of letting you get her back." Ranma admitted.

"But then what will you barter with? You aren't very good at this, it seems."

_"Plan A seems to have fallen through."_ Rei pointed out unneccessarily, enjoying the way Ranma ground her teeth. _"I did tell you it was a bad idea. I hope you have a plan B?"_

_'Gimme five minutes to think and stall.'_

"You know... you're kinda right, I guess. This whole job is a flop. I'm just having a bad day, alright? No, more than that, it's been a string of really bad days. The little mini-vacation was nice and all, but-"

"I'm not interested in your life story child." The old man pointed out. "And you might note that several of my hired hands have been transporting large crates up here while we talked. These crates are filled with ammunition. I should point off that not even the most powerful of psychics can deflect a hailstorm of bullets forever, and while my supplies are not infinite, they are more than adequate for the job. I'm afraid you've well and truly lost, girl, and you should either make a very hasty argument on your behalf, or beat an equally hasty retreat."

There was a near-audible sound as Ranma's temper, stretched thin by recent events and frayed to the very limits, finally snapped entirely. It was accompanied by an actually audible series of pops from her knuckles, clenched far too tightly into fists.

_'I'm.... suddenly not even that angry. Or I don't feel it, which is weird, because every word out of this old fart's mouth had me boiling hotter and hotter. It's like I've come full circle, and have reached a plateau of gentle calm, surrounded by a sea of boiling rage. Or maybe a zen state of nirvana, fueled by loathing. That's the only way I can describe it.'_

_".... Good for you?"_ Rei offered hesitantly.

"You know, I read a comic book once." Ranma said flippantly. "It wasn't really my thing, but one of the guys in it had an interesting little theory. The way he put it, the only thing seperating normal people, or the good guys, from the batshit insane supervillains was just one _really. Bad. Day._"

She shrugged theatrically.

"Now, I didn't quite agree. Still don't, yanno? But after a long time I'm starting to see just where the guy was coming from. I've got my own take on it, now. You see, everyone there is has their own little breaking point, after which they take a dive off the deep end. Now sometimes, just one day is all it takes, if it's bad enough. Others, it takes a bit more. For some... it might take most of a lifetime of hardship, followed by crazy magic curses putting a minor mindfuck on them, followed a year or so of being what boils down to the buttmonkey of a whole _city_, followed by more curses, mindfuckery, and a body timeshare system coupled with a voice in the head, no offense to the voice in my head, followed by an uncontrolled eviction across dimensional borders, followed by _more_ mindfuckery and what equated to _years_ of horrible enough torture to bring them just to the brink, then an all too short vacation, giving them just enough chance to start stepping away from that perilous precipice... followed by one absolute _clusterfuck_ that was supposed to be an easy mission."

The old man frowned in confusion at the ridiculously detailed example.

"You know, I was probably a bit hasty when I shot down the whole 'shrink' idea. Was worried that they'd wring something out of me that I didn't want to spill, decide that I was crazy, and put me in some loony bin. But you know what? Screw it." Ranma decided. "I am absolutely sick of this freaking world, and I've got a decent lead on how to get myself either back to my home or that of the voice in my head, or hopefully at least another world that doesn't suck as much as this one. So, you know, I don't really give a damn about any of this 'low-profile' bullshit anymore."

Ranma tugged her pokedex out and punched in a memorized combination, then held it to her ear.

"Hey? Yeah, Boss. 'S me. No, that's what I'm calling about. See the job, as is? Kinda fucked. Nah, I'll work something out. As long as you get 500 K it's fine, right? No problem then. Oh, also, I'm from another dimension, I'm sharing my body with a girl who's half-angel or something, I used to be a guy before all this shit happened, and I think I hate everything that exists, has ever existed, or will ever exist now. No, seriously... with one or two personal exceptions anyway. It's actually really liberating, you oughta try it sometime. And no, you aren't on the exception list. I hope you die in a fire, but in the most respectful way possible, sir. I'll get the cash to you soonish, then I have other shit to do. 'Kay, bye now."

She tucked the dex away and frowned.

"Right, where was I... oh yeah, I remember. Anyway, Plan A is dead-ish on the ground there. Plan B and C were going to be reasonable and well thought out and possibly involve a mature adult discussion between the two of us, but you know, screw it. It's just been one of those days. So, I'm going to kill the crap out of every last one of you guys now, rob the old geezers house, sell his things in another league, pay off that little dept, and keep the profit for myself. Nice, simple, elegant. I really should have started with this one right off the bat, but I was still completely sane then, I think. Whatever."

Ranma lit up with ki, what appeared to the goons and old man to be blue fire, and the fight started.

_"Ah."_ Rei said. _"So. You've cracked and started killing, I see. What exactly happened to 'Once you've done it once, you're tempted to do it again, so I can't' or whatever it is you said about that?"_

_'Can't really talk right now, ripping out a feeble, perverted old man's lungs. And kinda wishing he was another old man of my acquaintance.'_

_"Or, for that matter, 'This place kinda grows on you after a while.'? Well?"_

_'Look, you're the last person I want to hear this from, Miss 'Game Over For The World'.'_

_"That is for the organized and immediate destruction of all of humanity as a whole, synthesising into one composite being to further evolution. Just slaughtering a few people at a time is pointless."_

_'Yeah, great, whatever. Ew, look, you distracted me and now I have pancreas splattered all in my hair. Do you have any idea how long that will take to wash out?'_

_"I'm sure I've no idea. Destructuring a human through triggered removal of the AT barrier is theorized to be relatively mess-free."_

_'Oh, nice. A sanitary apocalypse. And to be perfectly honest, I don't know either, but you can just bet it's going to be a bitch.'_

Ranma finished the grisly work at about the same time as the conversation, breathing heavily, but somehow fulfilled and relieved in the way only a really savage beating could provide. It was just a shame that these guys couldn't stand up to the sort of punishment that Ryouga could.

There was a heavy footfall that caught Ranma's attention, and she turned towards the source of it.

"Oh? Mr Captain!" She chirped. "Fraid I'm here on business, so no time to play. Unless you want some of this?"

The captain's eyes took in her gore-splattered form, moved to the horrible, horrible mess of mangled corpses and uselessly spent bullet casings, and from there to his sword. His simple, trusty sword, that at the moment seemed so very, very woefully inadequate.

He slowly and carefully unbuckled his belt, tossing it and the attached blade aside and held up his hands, silently denying that he wanted _any_.

"There's a good boy. Gotta dash, but I guess I'll take this." Ranma said, lifting the hybrid with one hand from her prone position and noting she no longer had trouble breathing, but was still kinda a mess, what with a quarter of her head still missing and only very slowly being replaced.

Gardevoir's eyes flashed and they winked out.

xxx

_"In all honesty, I had expected you to come to your senses and be vomiting up everything you'd eaten for the past two days."_

_'Me too!'_ Ranma admitted. _'I mean seriously, I ripped out that guy's _lungs_ here. That goes way above and beyond anything I've ever even considered doing to anyone before. It's weird, but now that I've actually gone and done it, I kinda feel like there was some sort of outside enforcement keeping me from snapping and pulling something like this before, like a magic binding or something, that had just gone at some point and I'd never noticed before.'_

_"That's just ridiculous." _Rei chided. _"Lets attempt to keep things in the realm of possibilities for as long as possible, shall we?"_

_'Haha, yeah, I guess the odds of that are kinda low, even for me. But aside from that, I'd say that either this is a result of the whole mental trauma stacked upon mental trauma thing that I've never attempted to deal with, and I'll either be back to relatively normal in the morning and have a panic attack about all this, or I'll stay this way until I get serious psychological help. Or, y'know, forever.'_

_"I could force you to go." _Rei pointed out logically. _"But I'm trying to decide whether I prefer the old you or the new you, and whether or not the effort is worth it."_

_'Y'know, most people would be kinda freaked about someone sharing head-and-body space with them suddenly flipping out and killing people.'_

_"I could very well return the sentiment towards you. And there is a reason, after all, that I abstain from meat, entirely outside of matters of choice."_

_'Oh? Spill.'_

_"No. In any case, I'm wondering if it's wise to take the time to clean ourselves in the dead man's house."_

_'I'm sure he doesn't care, Rei. Kind of wish he had hot running water on, but I guess that was a bit much to ask for.'_

_"Not that... I was more concerned with the fact that law enforcement agencies will most likely congregate here first to look for leads."_

_'Relax. In my experience, red tape always gives a little time between the disturbance before anyone comes to investigate. It'll be fine.'_

_"I would ask how you know this, but I've heard you talk about your father."_ Rei admitted, grudging the point.

Ranma grunted and inspected her hair in the mirror, frowned at trace remnants, and dunked her head back into the basin.

_'I'd cut all this junk off, but it would look like crap, then grow back.'_

_"Yes. By the bye... was there any purpose to retrieving the hybrid, rather than leaving her to be tended by the ship crew?"_

Ranma frowned and glanced over to the door to the girl's bedroom, where she'd left her to slowly heal.

_'No, not really. I mean... I'm not interested in dragging the kid along.'_

_"It's older than you."_ Rei pointed out. _"Chronologically at least."_

_'But at the same time, I just didn't really feel right leaving the kid wallowing in a puddle of gore, missing a chunk of her head. Just call it my good deed for the duration.'_

Ranma shrugged, decided that her hair was as clean as it was going to get for the moment and left the room.

"Alright! Time to get to the looting!"

xxx

A.N.

You know what would be great? A picture of Metagross and Misdreavus smashing down some trees as they chase down some poor, terrified Rattata. That would be some awesome fanarts. If, you know, I ever got any fanarts.

Anyway, I recently watched Dead Fantasy and Haloid. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, then please google these if you have any interest in any or all of the following: excellent 3d fanvideos, Final Fantasy, Dead or Alive, Halo, Metroid, awesomely destructive battles, or girls. I'll wait, seriously.) Anyway, it's probably something wrong with me, but I watch these things and think 'If I could do this, I could make an awesome sparring sequence between Ranma and the pokemons!'. Weird. But I don't have the slightest clue, so meh. I guess I could scribble up a comic or something, but that takes so much time, and I'm so easily distracted... yeah.

Anyway, more in line with the story, I went back through the story, picked a couple little details, and turned them into Chekhov's gun or something. Seriously now, how many of you thought the brief mention of Hybrids was ever going to amount to anything?

And the whole murder-rage thing. Lets just say that Genma immediately put in _lots_ more safeguards than just what was mentioned in story into that thing. Like 'No matter how much I put the boy through, he'll never snap and turn on me.' and/or 'No matter how crazy things get, he'll never think about just cracking and solving his problems with violence.' and other stuff. See, if Genma'd known Nabiki was going to burn that thing instead of hiding it, he'd never have handed it over in the first place. And, y'know, Nabiki should really have done more than just glance at it before making a snap judgement. That was kind of a bad idea.

Ooops.


	16. Bye bye Pokemonland

Wanderer

Mewtwo... is kinda broken, you know? Others more so.

xxx

"This is horrible! What could have done something like this, Officer Johnny?"

The policeman in question, slightly green, snatched upon the reason to turn away from the sea... well, small pond at least, of gore, and scowled at his assistant.

"I've told you not to call me that." He grumbled. "My name is David. David Westermonte. David Ezekiel Westermonte, in fact, with nothing that could in any way constitute a 'Johnny', and it really irritates me when people call me that."

"But it's _tradition_." The aide whined. "A force of Johnny's and Jennys, and-"

"I. Don't. Care. Next time you call me that, I'm blacking your eye. The pay docking would be well worth it. Now, since I'm the only forensic in town, I get why I have to be here, but why you?"

"It's my job to follow in your footsteps and assist wherever I can, Officer Joh-nmm!" The aid bit off as David sent a very dangerous look his way.

"Right. Okay then. Just... for the love of god, don't fucking touch anything. You've fucked up more crime scenes for me that way... actually, just stand there and don't move and tell me what we know."

"Not much, I'm afraid. At time X, sensors of the ship noted something or someone teleporting aboard, and twenty minutes following that it teleported back off again, leaving... well, this. Five minutes previous to time X, a certain wealthy individual recieved a call on his cell phone, but nobody was nearby enough to overhear what he was saying. Approximately thirty seconds before time X, the telephone conversation ended and this individual immediately left for the forward deck, where nobody else was, with all his bodyguards in tow. Apparently nobody followed, but reports indicate that shortly after time X there was an incident of heavy gunfire. Following this, there was a short period of silence, followed by more heavy gunfire and screaming. The captain was called then, and claims he went in to investigate, but cannot recall anything between opening the door to the deck and approximately five minutes after that."

Nearby, a heavily overworked Alakazam carefully and sneakily swam out past the sensors' range before teleporting away.

"Alright, we can presume that the memory was extracted by the perp, then, which confirms a psychic type of some sort was involved, at the very least. Ugh, problem with that is that with Teleport, they could be in another league entirely by now, and we'd never find them, especially with no witnesses to question. On the plus side, this isn't just some random murder, or they'd just have killed the captain too, instead of just taking his memory. If we can put together why someone would want this person dead-"

The aide subtly coughed a name, and David blinked slowly.

"Alright... If we can narrow down _which_ someone would want this guy dead _the most_ and didn't want to just wait maybe five years, that could give us a starting place to look for suspects. That bit's not really our job, though. And I guess I've put it off long enough, it's time to do _my _job."

David sighed and tugged on a pair of rubber gloves, setting to the arduous task ahead of him. It was hours of intense work before he stepped back, exhausted, and held out his hands for the Aide to carefully tug off the gloves.

"Well, whatever else might be said about this confusing mess, the actual killer or killers were _damn_ strong. Theres bits that look like they've been clawed up, bits smashed in with a lot of blunt trauma, and bits that just got torn apart like wet tissue in there. At this point, I'm going to say that at least two Pokemon had to have been involved, and probably more, because as far as I can tell the guards started releasing their own pokemon just after the first guy went down, and if the rate of carnage went down at all with them added, it was negligible. Definitely had to have been at least two really strong pokemon types, one with claws, and a psychic to deal with the bullets. Their trainer definitely knew exactly what he was doing."

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"It's too damn clean, though. Not a thing left behind to help identify any of them, and that's actually pretty damn scary, because most things with claws also have fur, and fur sheds all the damn time. My only guess for that is that they either collected everything they left before they ported out, or the trainer was crazy-prepared and shaved the clawed one or something. On that note, have a watch put out for shaved pokemon, just in case. But damn..."

"Are you sure, sir?"

"Positive. Unless you've got one of those creepy psychic hints you want to share?"

"Please don't speak about my family's visions so flippantly, sir." The aide chided. "But... I'm afraid I can't help much. Like you said, they were powerful, and one of them was a psychic, which automatically puts up a lot of interference for this sort of thing... but I can get a dim reading, and I really only see one pokemon along with the Trainer."

"_One_?" David barked sharply. "That's just not possible, alright. Psychic types, they... they just don't ever get this into melee fights. And they'd definitely have been mentally lifting and swinging around things and people, and I didn't see any evidence of that. And it might be able to account for the tearing and blunt impacts, but the only psychic I know of with claws is Espeon, and those are blunted enough to be near useless. If they have to get personal about things, they bite, and I didn't see a _single_ bite wound in all that mess. No. Your little mojo is just wrong this time."

"That, I am afraid, is what isn't possible, sir." The aide refuted. "While a vision may or may not happen, not once in the centuries of my families gift has one _ever_ been proven false."

"First time for everything!" David shot back. "And this time, it's definitely wrong. There's no way a normal psychic could or would have done all that. The only way..." He paused for a moment, then continued. "The only way something like that could have happened would be if that Trainer somehow co-opted a Legend for their purposes. That doesn't happen, ever, because anyone that seems too close to pulling it off gets all the others up in their face all at once. And entirely besides that, if I _really_ thought it was a Legend behind this, I'd head in and turn in my badge _tonight_ and check out the Help Wanted ads in the morning. Those, they're... they're just forces of nature. Unstoppable."

The aide nodded somberly in reply.

The idea that it had been the _trainer _that had done most of the damage was, of course, not considered beyond what it took to formulate and immediately discard the thought. Because, seriously... just what kind of foolish idea was that?

xxx

Ranma sneezed and rubbed irritably at her nose before tossing a bunch of actual silver silverware into a sack and shunting it off into non-space.

_'Well, that oughta do it. Plenty of shiny crap for the shops. I'm just glad they don't ask questions about where you find stuff.'_

_"That... is rather odd, yes, that the excuse of 'I found it on the ground' so easily passes muster."_

_'Eh, who knows. This world is based off of a video game, after all. Could be that stuff just shows up up randomly when you aren't looking sometimes.'_

_"Doubtful..."_ Rei said, very much hoping that such wasn't the case.

"Ahn." The hybrid clutching at their leg mumbled, drawing their attention.

_'So. Now we just have to pry her off and we can get gone.'_

_"Actually, I was considering allowing it to follow. As a hybrid of human and pokemon, it might shed some insight upon my own nature, hybrid of human and angel, given proper study."_

_'Right. And could you pull that study off without actually vivisecting her?'_

There was a long moment of awkward silence as Ranma patiently waited for an answer.

_"We have significant proof that she would get better."_ Rei eventually offered.

_'Yeah? No. Berserk Murder? One thing. Mad scientist psuedo-torture? Another ball game entirely.'_

_"You would not be required to take part."_

_'Haha, no. Kid stays here, end of story.'_

"Ahn?" the hybrid mumbled as Ranma reached down and touseled her 'hair', smiling gently.

"Sorry kid. But you've gotta sleep now."

Presumably, the nerve pinch that rendered her unconscious came as a complete surprise. Ranma caught her before she could hit the floor, and carefully settled her on a couch before collecting a few more valuable-looking knicknacks and having Gardevoir teleport them out.

xxx

"They're here." Taro said, eyes snapping abruptly open from his meditations. "And about time."

"You didn't enjoy your training?" The soft question came from the shadows. Taro denied it instantly.

"That's not it at all, sensei. I've learned a great deal, in a very short amount of time. If this were my own world, I wouldn't at all mind remaining here and continuing this training. But with the possibility of returning to my home..."

"I understand." Without a further word, a child sized doll in a sundress toddled out of the shadows. "Prepare yourself."

Taro's eyes glazed over, and his features went slack for several minutes as an unseen mental struggle took place. He gasped sharply as it broke.

"You've improved significantly." The doll noted. "Even so, alone against the opponent you are set against, you can only fail. Pray that he is distracted by the numbers brought to bear."

"Heh. I'm not too worried about that. Saotome has a tendency of pulling crazy wins out of his ass."

"Fortune is a fickle mistress." The doll warned. "But you will not be dissuaded from this path. Off with you then."

Taro shrugged and made his way slowly out of the ruined gym. For just a moment, Sabrina faded into transparent view, watching after him, then faded away once more. The doll, avatar of her will, toddled back into the darkness.

Meanwhile, Taro, with his newfound but not particularly prodigious psychic ability, rapidly located and made his way toward Ranma, who was waiting on an apparently randomly selected roof to be noticed.

"Faster than I thought." She mused. "Were you nearby?"

"Other side of town, fem-boy. But I've picked up a couple new tricks."

"Fair enough. Are you ready, then?"

"As I'll ever be."

Ranma nodded, and Gardevoir teleported them out, to their final destination.

xxx

"It's about time." The disguised Mewtwo said, rising from his stone seat and floating down gently. "I had begun to wonder if you would arrive at all, or if you had become eneamored enough of our little world that you had decided to stay."

"Fat chance." Ranma snorted.

"So cold. And yet, when I look at the two of you, which is it I see who has more rapidly slipped into this new world? Hm?"

"Enough of this. It's time to fight." Ranma decided, releasing her squad and preparing herself.

Mewtwo, for his part, sighed deeply.

"Indeed... fight."

His eyes flashed, and the entire group was lifted up off the ground, paralyzed, the battle having ended before it even began.

"Would that I could simply destroy you all now." He mused, ignoring the struggle.

Gardevoir broke free for a moment and teleported behind him, only managing to just begin to charge up a shadow ball before she was slammed with a redoubled level of psychic energy and moved back to her place floating in the air.

"Enough of that. Stop struggling." He chided. "You've no idea how difficult this is for me. It's quite difficult, I'm afraid, to calculate how much pressure to apply to insects such as yourself without... accidentally crushing one or two."

Giving proof to the statement, a subtle mental shove had Ranma coughing up a mouthful of blood.

"And as much as I would enjoy squishing you all out here in the middle of nowhere, where your bodies might not be discovered for decades, I'm afraid I've been placed under orders from a higher authority on this matter. Shame."

Rei took control of their body, wings tearing out of her back and AT field materializing as she broke free, power coalescing into her hands as she swooped down to the attack. She made it only a handful of feet before she was slammed harshly into the unforgiving ground, her wings and limbs painfully twisted as the attack fizzled uselessly out.

"Now, what did I _just_ say about struggling?" Mewtwo chided again, accompanied by a handful of snapping noises.

Rei whimpered softly before switching places once again and receding to the depths of their shared mind in an attempt to be alone with the pain.

"Well...." Ranma managed, now being levitated upside down. "That went... it could have gone better, I'll admit."

"God. Damn. It." Taro deadpanned. "This is what I get for trusting you to have some idea of what you're doing, fem-boy. What the hell happened? I kept hearing all this chatter about 'oooh! Ranma defeat Sa Fulong' from the bitch brigade, and he was supposed to be a god, so seriously, what the hell?"

"Okay, one! Saffron couldn't take a punch. Two! His shtick was mostly just magic fire, not... whatever you call all this. Three! I had a convenient magic artifact to hand that I could use to pretty much nullify his every attack. So yeah, not quite the same thing, here."

"And what is that bullshit over there? That dog thing is supposed to be immune to this crap, right?"

"I am a Legend." Mewtwo calmly stated, breaking into the conversation. "Normal rules do not neccessarily apply."

"But-"

"Normal rules do not apply." He insisted again. "In any case, if you have finished with your inane prattle, we have an appointment to keep."

With a flash of blinding blue, the mountain was once more void of inhabitants.

When the group had blinked their eyes clear of the bright pain, they found themselves elsewhere, standing on what seemed to be a circle of floating glass atop clouds stretching in every direction. Mewtwo, ahead of them, had dropped down to a single knee before a very old, bald man in an off-white robe, leaning on a walking stick. One by one, many other 'people' made their entrances.

Ranma couldn't get all the way up. With every new arrival, the overwhelming sense of Power in the air grew ever more palpable, crushing down on them like a physical weight. What had she been _thinking_, to....

The old man spoke.

"I am Arceus. Primarch of Legend and First born of the First children of the First. And you..." He frowned down at them. "You are an aberration. You do not belong, and your very presence weakens the threads binding together the fabrics of this reality. You are Outsiders, and in being here you have unlocked a door once tightly sealed against intrusion, which cannot again be sealed whilst you remain."

He waved his walking stick, and the image of a horrible mass of shifting, writhing tentacles and gaping mouths sprang into existence, dozens of eyes seeming to turn as though it could see them as well before he waved the stick again, banishing the image.

"The nameless abomination known only by its title of 'The Missing Number' once more freely wanders the land. Others of its ilk will soon become aware of this weakness and surge to batter down the door, and Those Who Are Unown have again begun to stir from their rest. This travesty may be laid solely at your feet."

"Hey... hey, look, this isn't our fault, it wasn't our idea-" Taro began, hoping to reason with the being.

"Accidental guilt... it is not innocence." Arceus somberly stated. "However... while it would be pleasing to punish you interlopers for this matter, even should you die, and your bodies be ground to nothing, and your souls be rent asunder and cast to the furthest reaches of all the galaxy, it would not allow the door to be sealed anew. Only with you gone entirely, can the door be firmly shut and the invaders cast out."

"No problem, then." Ranma croaked. "Just let us know how to leave, and-"

A wave of crushing presence silenced her as Arceus stroked his chin.

"This is my ruling." He decided. "You. Young man. From the moment of your arrival until the time of your crossing paths with Mewtwo and your second meeting with your companions, your every action was toward your return to whence you came and belong, sparing not a moment more than was neccessary to any other pursuit. You are comparatively free of guilt."

Ancient eyes turned from Taro to Ranma.

"The two of you, however..." He mused. "Your intent was similar, but the result... You have settled in, made attachments, and perverted several of the First's children to your side in so doing. They, also, must now leave with you or be destroyed. Your attachments must be severed."

With a jerk of his hand, a doorway appeared before them.

"Boy. You, I can return home with little trouble. The trappings of your world still linger heavily upon you. Simply step through the doorway, and you will find yourself in a familiar place. You, girl... your situation is somewhat more complicated." He said, ignoring the glower at the appelation.

"Huh. Well, nice knowing you, Saotome. Look me up if you ever get back, I'll be happy to kick your teeth in for you." Taro said, staggering forward and through the door, not bothering to look back.

"Right." Ranma mumbled. "And we've passed the sudden but inevitable betrayal. Great."

"You must be removed from this world, however due to your own actions it is not possible to simply return you to either of your own." Arceus intoned somberly as the door faded into nothingness.

Of course things wouldn't be so easy. Of freaking course.

"Even removing you from this world is a troublesome matter in its own right. Your bonds must be broken."

Arceus waved a hand, and a handful of surprised figures appeared in midair, dropping to their feet or knees. Professor Ketchum, Celia, Giovanni. That pair of operatives from the exam and Jin, the hybrid, even a few people that she'd only met once or twice in passing...

"Every memory of you a bond, a cord, tying you to this realm." Arceus spoke. "Much as those children at your side, they, also, must either leave, or..."

Arceus trailed meaningfully off, and suddenly Ranma could stand, and there was a heavy executioner's axe in one of her hands.

"Your bonds must be severed, if you would leave." Arceus repeated.

"Then, I must..." Ranma shook her head. "But!"

"Why are you hesitant? Casual slaughter did not trouble you so aboard the S.S. Anne. Why is now so different?" Arceus mused.

"In cold blood." Ranma growled. "You would have me kill them all in cold blood!"

She grit her teeth, and after a long moment very deliberately tossed the axe aside.

"No. I'm not going to do it. Not when I'm pretty sure that there's another option. If their memories of me are a problem, then just remove them. Even if they have to die, I'm not going to be pressured into doing someone else's dirty work."

"Then you deliberately set yourself upon a far harsher path than is neccessary." Arceus rebutted. "While the bonds tie you here, you cannot be easily expelled from the world, and as you are not one of _mine_, my options are limited. You can, however, be _banished_."

His eyes seemed to flash at the final word.

"In truth, I much prefer that option. However, I have attempted to keep in mind that none of this was of your choice. And I can promise you this... While you would leave this realm behind, there are many possible destinations for you, and _none_ are safe or pleasant. This is your final choice. Sever the bonds tying you here of your own volition, or you shall be banished."

"Banish me then. As long as I don't have to listen to you _talk_ any more."

Arceus' eyes flashed, and a dangerous rumbling sound began, which only after a moment could be distinguished as a gravely sort of laughter.

"Hah. So mote it be. Fortune smiles upon you... had you chosen to end their lives, your own would have come to an end at their final breath, and it would have been your corpse cast through the gates."

"I totally knew that." Ranma lied. "It was obvious, by the way... uh... y'know, let's get the goodbye crap out of the way, then, and get to the banishment. I can't wait." She said, quickly recalling her pokemon in the hopes of expiditing the process.

For the most part, it was easy. Giovanni, for example, simply noted that it seemed that he would have to cancel her next paycheck, and that he would have preferred she give two weeks notice. Jin just harrumphed, Joy had been more eager to avoid her, really, and some of the others barely even recognized her. The hybrid had been overjoyed to see her again, and she'd had to resort to another nerve pinch to pry her off.

Celia, Kaoru, and Jin had been rather more difficult to speak with.

"So... I guess this is why you ran out on us." Kaoru noted.

"It's... not really your fault. I just let you believe that I would be sticking around for a while, and... yeah, I guess I totally lied to you. In my defense, I totally lied to everyone, so don't take it personally." Ranma said, shrugging.

"I thought we were friends..." Bell managed between sniffles, prompting some discomfort on Ranma's part.

".... Yeah. That was my fault." Ranma decided on, having passed by many less endearing responses. "But, you know, I guess I probably thought about you as a sort-of friend for a little while. Until the dream-torture thing, and..." She paused before continuing. "Well, you really don't want to know what I ended up doing to you in that, so let's just not go there."

Bell grabbed hold of her and started sobbing into her shirt, and Ranma eventually managed to awkwardly pry her loose.

"Keep an eye on the... tentacle-girl thing for me, alright?" She said, eager to shift the girl's focus before moving along.

"I actually don't know what we're doing here." Celia said for both herself and Ash, who was eyeing the girl appraisingly. "I'm pretty sure that neither of us have ever seen you before."

"Hm... no, I don't think you have seen _me_, anyway." Ranma admitted. "Rei, though, you've definitely met."

Ash was less surprised than Celia at the name-dropping and followed body-swaps, presumably from having seen weirder things at some point.

"We have this whole body time-share thing going. She'd have stuck around longer to chat, but, you know, somebody got a little exuberant earlier and she's in kind of a mess right now."

"She shouldn't have struggled." Mewtwo insisted.

"Anyway, lots of luck in finding a new rival, alright?"

"No." Celia decided, crossing her arms over her chest. "I don't really get what's going on. But none of this changes the fact that Wondergirl's my rival, and the only person so far to beat me. We still haven't had our rematch. If you two can't stay here... then one day, after I'm Pokemon Champion, I'll find you instead. I'll find you, and then we'll have our rematch."

Ranma arched an eyebrow.

"Heh... I'd let it go if I were you. The multiverse is a wide and scary place."

"Oh, there's no changing her mind once she's set herself to it." Ash grumbled. "She's obstinate like that. It runs in the blood. Why, once she walked from her families house in Vermillion to the far side of Johto because one of her aunt's had told her about a Poochyena puppy that she was taking care of, and she wanted to see it for herself. This... mm... well, it does seem to be on rather a wider scale of things, but there'll be no talking her out of it. I'll do what I can, of course."

"Try." Ranma agreed, the both of them ignoring the fuming girl.

"I shall. I'll have the time, at least. Pokemon Champion these days requires that you fight three sets of Elite Four one after the other. Regional Champion is much simpler."

"Heh. Whatever you say. But I've stayed longer than I should have already, now. I guess it's time to go." She eyed Celia. "I'll hope you don't actually manage to follow me anywhere... but I'll keep an eye out nonetheless."

Shrugging, Ranma turned and walked back to the center of the floating stange, a wide space opening around her.

"So. Let's do this, then."

_**"Begone."**_ Arceus spoke, his voice resonating with the crashing of thunder and the sea breaking on a cliffed shore.

And then, everything was gone.

xxx

A.N.

Final Chapter of the pokemon arc, and I gots some closing notes.

Mewtwo/Arceus. The two of these are just so enormously broken it's not even funny. So are a lot of the Legendaries, in fact, including.... well, any of the birds or beasts, I guess. I'm going to say they're relatively weak and dumb, by being final generation Legends, or something. Mewtwo, while the newest, was cloned from Mew genes, who I'd say is a first generation, along with Arceus, and, uh... some of the others who's names I can't recall, making him technically a second generation or something. As such, while not so Phenominal Cosmic Power as those, still broken.

Not bad for an explanation I pulled straight out of my...

And anyway, it's all closed up tight now, because if things kept going like they were and Ranma actually had to fight Mewtwo _and win_ to get out of here, I can see things stretching another, oh... thirty, forty filler chapters of training, and tying up of loose ends while creating more tangles to deal with. Yeah. -_-

Taro. "Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!" Man, he didn't even look back. That's just how they roll in Nerima, at least when Ranma's on the recieving end of things. Also, he got awesome training in with Sabrina, but didn't get to utilize it much, or have it even really mentioned much outside that brief semi-training thing. I see a cameo or two with the NWC in the future, maybe. That oughta be fun.

You may have noticed, but lots of my characters have alignment shifts from canon. Like, Ranma in here would have shifted from 'Stupid Good' to 'Chaotic Neutral-ish', leaving her able to do both really bad and really good things, depending on her whims. Rei, I'd say is more along the lines of 'Apathetic Neutral'. Maybe bordering on evil, there is that whole 'I want to kill the world' thing going on there, but eh... I don't know where I'm going with this, actually. -_-

So, possible next destinations. I've already decided, so this is not a vote or anything, but I thought you guys might appreciate a few of the possibilities in little snippets of text that may or may not actually be used in the actual story.

1.

"What the crap is this?" Ranma growled. "Second verse, same as the first? I thought I left this place behind already!"

A pokeball soared out of the milling crowd to smack into her forehead, undodged or blocked due to the sheer unexpectedness of it.

"D'aww, she no be caught. Dat a cryin' shame, 'cuz you _know_ big Charlie be likin' him some o' dat."

"That's it." Ranma grumbled, rubbing at her somehow bruised forehead and deflecting a hailstorm of pokeballs. "Now, _everyone_ dies."

2.

"Yes! With this mighty weapon, I... I..." Ranma trailed off before continuing in a deadpan. "It's a key. A giant key."

_So it is._

"I see. Then why, if I may ask, is the magic uber-weapon with which to fight off the shadowy hordes that are even no probably chewing the crap out of my real body A FREAKING GIANT, STYLIZED KEY, OF ALL THINGS!?"

_Look, it's symbolic, and would take a while to explain. Just go with it, all right?_

3.

"Summoning Jutsu!"

Ranma appeared in a poof of smoke and promptly ignored both if the kids in front of her to eye her surroundings. A coliseum of some sort, with a huge watching crowd.

"Okay, I get it. Time to get my gladiator on! So, who'm I here to kill?"

One boy immediately pointed at the other, who crossed his arms over his chest with a sniff of superiority.

"..... You gotta be shitting me."

4.

"Well, this is new." Ranma stated aloud, watching the kaiju-thing rampage through the city as a sportscar whizzed past them.

_"Actually, it's quite familiar. Which is actually rather unfortunate, because the timeframe is out of sync."_

5.

"And so." The King declared somberly. "Should you succede in this noblest of quests, then upon your return, I shall allow that you be wed to any of my sons that you so choose."

Ranma tried, really she did, to just politely decline and request money or something more useful instead, but somewhere along the path between her mind and her mouth, the words had warped and twisted to become unrecognizable.

"That's nice, and all, but I don't suppose you could let me have your daughter there instead? She looks a tasty treat. Mrowr."

"..... Kill the monster, then we'll talk."

It was quite difficult to tell whether the princes or princesses looked more scandalized and upset, and who they were moreso with.

Upload time!


	17. Hello Heartless

Wanderer

And here you thought Ranma was getting a Keyblade, didn't you?

xxx

_'Well, all's well that ends well, you know? Still kind of irritated that they just dropped everything on us as our fault and kicked us out like naughty children, though.'_

_"Indeed. Ah... my regeneration seems to be nearing completion."_

_'I don't know how or why that stuff works when our body looks like me, but damn if that isn't useful.'_ Ranma noted happily.

_"In any case, it was not unexpected. Those creatures gave off much the same feeling as one would get during a meeting with SEELE. Quite absurdly powerful in their own right, yet clamoring towards ever higher levels, and absolutely requiring that they be in full control of every aspect of every situation that may come to pass. They would be Gods, but are neither omipotent nor omniscient, and they know and despise this truth."_

_'See, that's what you saw. Me, I just saw a bunch of assholes. Powerful assholes, but I call them like I see them. Could be worse, though. They mighta made us kill that... thingy, before we left.'_

Unseen, Rei frowned softly. She had contemplated things, and would actually much have preferred to remain on that world for a further time yet, for the sake of broadening the depths of her knowledge. Since that first encounter with Mewtwo, however, Ranma had been driven to leave immediately, and she had ceded to that desperation, and even now could almost sense a palpable relief flowing through the other.

She suspected she knew why, as well. Whatever she had seen, gone through, during her comatose state... it had hit far too close for the redhead, was far too plausible, for her state of mind. She had needed to divorce herself from the possibility of that dream becoming a reality, and what better means to do so than placing an entire dimension between herself and it?

She did not mention her conclusions.

_"Their likability aside, once something out of their control had happened, much like SEELE would have, they felt pressed to do anything within their power to preserve the illusion of their godhood. Thus, a rushed sham-trial of sorts, ending in the punishment of a convenient scapegoat. Had we delayed our encounter with Mewtwo much longer, I do not doubt that they would have simply abandoned all pretenses entirely, come to collect us wherever we might have been, and banished us then and there."_

_'Tch. Sick of talking about those guys.'_ Ranma grumbled._ 'How long is it going to take until... well, speak of the devil, isn't it? Looks like we're almost wherever it is we're going.'_

With an almost-sigh, reality bent in a patch of empty air, and suddenly Ranma was floating where nothing had been before, far, far above ground level. There was a long moment of awkwardness before gravity presumably looked up, saw the newcomer, and extended a warm 'Hello, how do you do?' and handshake.

"FUCK!" Ranma bellowed, as she began to accelerate downwards.

_'Damn, damn, damn! Are we _always_ going to come out this high? Good thing it's me out here, shouldn't be a problem. Or no... you can fly, right, Rei?'_

_"Yees..." _She admitted slowly. _"However, there are two factors to consider. First, that my wings are still relatively new, and the muscles thereof are relatively weak. Second, that they seem to be the last portion to regenerate, and slowest, as they are still not yet mended. Even at my best, I would judge that I could only fly for a half minute before they give out, or glide for somewhat longer than that, and that would do us no good. As I am not actually at top shape..."_

_'I get it. No problem, I'll take the lumps then.'_

Ranma braced herself for the crash, then frowned after a moment.

_'Hey... wonder what all that black-'_

Impact. She saw stars for a brief moment, noted that the ground had been significantly harder than she'd guessed, and realized something as she stood and shook it off.

All that black stuff? It was alive, had been a teeming sea of creatures that had jumped back and stared at her in confusion when she'd landed.

"What is this place?" She wondered, only now seriously looking at it. It was strange, to say the least. Like a ridiculously huge, enclosed cavern. Far off in the distance she could just make out a blur of white that, if squinted at, might be a huge door, and floating in the center, serving as a mock sun above the sea of darkness...

"Are those... stylized hearts? What are they made of? And what kind of person would take the time to carve something so damn huge..."

Scuffling noises around her tore her away from the statuary and back to closer matters. The creatures around her had changed subtly in their appraisal. Where there had been confusion and wariness at first, there was now only a sense of all-consuming hunger in their yellow eyes.

One lunged, and Ranma attempted to swat it away only to find it dissolving its being and flowing around the blow, as though it were composed temporarily of some kind of loose gelatin, and it opened its jaws wide to bite. She immediately followed up the failed defense with a ki-blast, which did the trick properly, slamming the thing away and into the ground, where it darted back into the milling crowd, wary once more.

_'Well damn.'_ Ranma remarked idly. _'If I'm going to have to pull the big guns out just to hurt these things, it's going to be kind of draining.'_

_"I suppose I'll have to do my part in this." _Rei agreed. _"With luck, we need only hurt this swarm enough that they no longer consider us easy prey and they will retreat."_

_'With luck, maybe. But you know, my fights don't tend to be that lucky. We'll just have to see.'_

As one, the tide surged forward, eerily silent in their hunger. Ranma met them with chi blasts, opening up small pockets of safety to leap to as she prepared and launched more, leaping for the next foothold the moment her foot had touched down. It was a workable strategy, at first, with the horde of gnashing teeth and rending claws just behind her, but they soon caught on, surging outwards to let the blast impact, then flowing back in to eagerly await her landing.

_"Switch!"_ Rei barked, as more of a moment's notice of her intentions than any sort of request, as she took her place in battle.

Her wings unfurled, slowing the descent to a crawl as her eyes flashed, power building up in her hands and then crashing down to earth as a heavenly wrath, ripping and tearing apart everything within a set diameter.

Then, wings throbbing, and the effort having weakened her, she switched back and left Ranma to drop into the center of the circle.

_'Show off.'_ She grumbled.

A foot slammed down in front of them. Ranma looked up... way, way up, to where a smoky, tendrilly head glowered down at them.

"How the hell did I miss you?" She groaned, rolling to the side as the giant thing's other foot crashed heavily down where she had been standing, and leapt back to the attack.

xxx

It was a long time, as no more accurate measurement of time could be made in the heat of battle, without sun or stars to guage its passing, before either of them noticed something unfortunate.

The shadow creatures that they had put down, hadn't remained down. While this had been almost expected from the ones blasted away with ki, the ones torn apart with Rei's abilities, the effects of which Ranma hadn't quite been able to perfectly mimic even after dipping into the Yama sen ken, had _also_ been getting back up and re-entering the battle. It had just taken them a little longer to pull themselves together.

That wasn't at all good. In desperation, they had pulled the trump card of their pokemon, which had had its good points and bad ones. On the one hand, with that much more fighting force at their disposal, the shadow-things could be driven off faster and longer, and some of the techniques the pokemon could use _did_ seem to either finish them off permamently, or at least put them out of commission for exponentially longer than anything Ranma or Rei had managed yet.

On the other hand, the pokemon also tired, and more rapidly, as they couldn't simply swap bodies if they needed to catch a quick breather, and while they could help watch backs, they were also more backs to watch...

In the end, once they began showing signs of exhaustion, they were recalled, with the hope that win or lose, they would be safe inside their pokeballs inside non-space, and not subject to whatever might happen here. Gardevoir was the last to go, and sent an almost heartbroken look their way before submitting to the red light.

Then they were alone again against the unending tide, with no way to judge the time that had passed but through the counting of the enemies temporarily put down.

Ranma had lost count somewhere in the tens of thousands of the little shadow-things, and hundreds of the big ones. Rei had accounted for somewhat less than that, if only because her stamina was by far the lesser of the pair, and while she could disperse far more of the things at a time than Ranma could manage, she needed a similarly larger time to recuperate from the expenditure of that energy.

And then fatigue had begun to take its grim toll, and the shadow-things had sensed that, and pressed ever the harder for it, seeming to taste inevitability.

_'Rei... I'm losing it. Can you pull off anything to buy us a little more time, to get closer to that door? We're almost...'_

_"I'm sorry, Ranma."_ She replied, forgoing her usually strict habit of names in light of the gravity of the situation. _"I'm afraid that I can hardly move, as of yet. My regeneration has become sluggish. I need another few minutes, yet, before I can..."_

_'I can't _last_ another few minutes at this rate!'_

_"I know."_

There was a brief moment of silence between them as Ranma launched a ki-blast at a shadow-thing, faded and only a third the size she'd initially mustered at best, and used what little recoil there was to push just a little nearer to the tantalizingly close door, only a scarce hundred meters away.

_"There is one thing."_ Rei admitted. _"But it is nearly suicide. In this state, it may well be... afterwards, it will all be up to you. Do not pause to concern yourself with me. If we escape, I may yet survive, but you must..."_

_'Yeah. I'm sorry that it came down to this, Rei.'_

They switched.

Rei feebly knocked the nearest shadow-things away with her AT field. She didn't need long, just enough time... She began to glow. First a soft, cool bluish-white, but rapidly shifting to an angry, harsh red. And then she screamed, and the gathered power erupted in every direction, swirling around her like a maelstrom of blood. And then it was done, and she staggered forward a half step, wings denuded entirely of feathers and flesh, bare bones sprouted from her back, and deep, oozing wounds where her flesh had ruptured outwards from the self-destruct sequence that almost all Angels shared, but few would choose to use.

They switched, and Ranma broke into a halting run for the goal, ignorin the shadow things behind as she concentrated on the ones ahead. Eighty meters more. Seventy meters more, and the swarm had gathered itself together and renewed its assault, surging together behind her. Fifty meters more. Forty. She could spare enough, just enough, to blast aside those few shadow-things still in her way. Twenty. Only ten meters more, and she leapt over entangling hands grasping at her ankles from the shadows.

She'd made it. Exhausted, near ready to give out, to collapse and not move a muscle for days, but she had made it. Near delerious, she jerked at the handles.

The door didn't budge. Not in the slightest. Slowly, the adrenaline fading and giving way to an almost unknown sense of hopelessness, she looked up and saw something that had been overlooked before, perhaps out of desperation. A keyhole, set far above her, near the top of the door where she didn't have the energy to reach, and nothing to do there even if she could.

The door was locked tight, and nothing she could do, not savage wrenching or flailing, or hopeful ki-blasts or vaccuum blades could budge it, or even so much as mar its surface. The swarm behind her seemed to have paused simply to watch, taking fiendish enjoyment from her failed attempts. There had been no escape, from the very beginning.

"No..." She groaned. "This isn't right... this can't happen... This, I can't, it just...."

Slowly she stood and turned, steeling herself and allowing her fears and hysteria and hopelessness to wash away as she stared down the horde leering back at her, a last surge of stoicism that would have made samurai forbears proud.

"So... this is it, then. After it all... this is how I die." She shook her head. "But.. I won't just lie down and take it, damn you!"

She slipped into a frenzy then, burning her reserves of stamina and ki down to levels that endangered her life, and further still, and even so it wasn't enough, as the hungry tide seethed forward. Soon, even through the fog of exhaustion covering her eyes, all Ranma knew was a world filled with darkness and golden eyes and pain.

xxx

She hadn't expected to wake.

But wake she had, and to a world that was the same, but even so... indescribably different. The glowing hearts above seemed to radiate with a brand new intensity that she hadn't been able to feel before, and promised a lifetime of... _something_, which she couldn't describe but desperately _wanted_... And that radiation did absolutely nothing to quell the new, gnawing, burning ache inside of her, where it seemed as though there were an empty hole that wanted filling.

All she knew was that radiation, and the hunger, and for a time she lost herself to it and passed through the milling throng of shadow-things unmolested, one of them in their attempts to reach that fervent desire.

But after a time, reason and memory began to slowly drift back to her, and she became aware once more of herself. The swarm paid her no further heed, but she drew herself away from them and remembered.

She was not a faceless drone, as were the teeming mass before her. She recalled her name, and her body had never changed from what it had been before, though she reasoned that had she not had the will and self-identity to draw her back to herself, she would have indeed one day been no more distinguishable from any other of the shadow-things.

But she had recalled, and she had reclaimed, and she was born anew, of the darkness.

Something had been taken from her, however. No matter how she tried, or pleaded, or searched within her own mind, she could find no lingering trace of Rei, not even the softest word, and she feared that the other girl might somehow have been the sacrifice to ensure her survival.

She would not have been against having themselves seperated as they once had been, into two distinct wholes. But not like this. Never like this. The guilt bore down on her despite that she had no proof, and Ranma found that she was lonely, with only the mindless swarm for company.

She'd been able to access non-space and remove her pokeballs, and had for a moment tried to call out her monsters in an attempt to fill the time, but was forced to hastily and apologetically put them away again when they brought the attention of the swarm. As well, she had noted that their mere presence twinged at that emptiness inside, that new hunger.

She couldn't have them out, and risk the horde falling upon them in turn. She had had Rei taken from her. She couldn't even begin to wonder what might be taken from them.

Immediately following this, Ranma's mind turned once more to escape, to get away from the taunting hearts above and their radiation, and the swarm of what she had begun to realize were once unfortunates much like herself.

Even if she might have found the key, though, the door would still be shut to her. She had returned to it, and simply being in the presence of those gates caused her a mild, but physical sensation not much unlike pain. She had dared touch it again, and after she had pulled away from the agony, it had to have been hours after before she began to regain feeling in that arm. Those gates had been designed to keep everything inside, but most especially the shadow-things, and whatever she was now she qualified as at least close enough to trigger those defenses.

A different way would have to be found. And after a time, she found it, as every so often one or two of the swarm would mill through, happen upon the area, and escape themselves. Of course, she had also found places where the shadow-things would abruptly appear, stare for a moment, then join their countless fellows in their aimless milling about beneath the hearts, so perhaps this was simply the first that she had found.

It was the only one she needed. The darkness of the between of the start and end was almost comforting in its embrace as she made her way through, clawing slowly towards the spark of light at the very end.

She fell through.

It was bright... so very bright, almost painfully so, when compared to that place and the dim radiance of the heart suns. And only now did she realize how very tired she was, as the world seemed to blur around her and she collapsed to the ground, weary but exhilirated in the escape.

xxx

This time, when she woke, it was to voices and in a bed. She feigned slumber, to listen in on whatever was going on.

"..... found her unconscious just outside of town, Leon. I've never seen her before, but there were a dozen Heartless all around and it's lucky for her that I came by when I did." a chipper girl said.

"Lucky. Maybe." Was the taciturn reply. "But I'm more interested in why Heartless were so close to town in any numbers. Worse, the defense grid is damaged, and will be down for repairs for the next few hours. This could be the prelude to a concerted attack..."

"Aww.... but if that's true, then it mean's someone's directing the Heartless again. That Organization Thirteen, maybe?"

"Who knows? But they're looking like a problem too."

"Well, then it's a good thing Sora showed up again today! He'll be sticking around for a little while too, so if anyone tries anything before the grids up-"

"Our guest's awake." Leon, or so Ranma presumed, cut in. She could be wrong... but it seemed that he'd gotten a bit more terse when this 'Sora' person had been mentioned. Or perhaps not.

She opened her eyes and slowly sat up, and the emptiness and hunger spiked for a moment when she turned towards the pair, but she clamped down on the feeling and focused on a cover story.

She was allowed some time to think as the girl stepped forward and took hold of the conversation.

"You're awake! Are you alright, did the Heartless hurt you? There was nothing when I checked, but I might have missed something. If Merlin were here, he'd have you checked up and fixed up it to shakes of a stick, but he's off buying a book or something. What's your name? Oh, no, I should introduce us first, right? That's Leon over there, and I'm the Great Ninja Yuffie! Pleased to meet you. I'd introduce you to the rest, but Aerith's helping Cid look at Sora's Gummi Ship, and Sora, Donald, and Goofy are off killing Heartless near where I found you. So, what were you doing out there, huh? I thought everyone knew it was dangerous to leave town, and-"

"Enough." Leon interjected. "You're babbling. Give her a minute to answer your questions before you keep talking."

Yuffie rubbed the back of her head awkwardly, and Leon was sending a meaningfully suspicious look her way as Ranma finally started talking.

"My name's Ranma. Where are we?"

"This is Merlin's house, in Hollow Bastion." Yuffie said, frowning as Ranma's blank stare revealed that none of that meant anything to her. "Did... you hit your head, or something? Merlin's well known as the most powerful magician on a couple planets, and to not even know the name of this world..."

"Hit my head?" Ranma said, deliberately phrasing it as a question as she did her best to look confused. "I... don't know. Maybe I did. Before waking up just now, my memory..." She trailed off meaningfully and shook her head, thankful that she seemed to be buying it, and that Leon person, while a harder sell, seemed somewhat uncertain.

"You said... I was found with a lot of Heartless nearby? What are 'Heartless'?"

"I wouldn't say a _lot_, but yeah... anyway, _something_ is wrong with your head if you don't even know what a Heartless is. The Bastion's still infested with them, even a year after Maleficent and the rest got dealt with."

Leon stood and turned, walking to a comically oversized computer, where he began methodically typing.

"Okay, get up, Ranma! Looks like Leon's decided to have a private lesson for you."

Ranma stood, thankfully still clothed, her leather-ish outfit having survived mostly unscathed through the recent turmoil save for a few scuffs and small tears, and allowed herself to be lead to the other side of the single-room house.

If this Merlin person was as powerful and well known as all that, she couldn't help but wonder why he lived in a place like this.

"This is a Heartless." Leon said, bringing up an image of one of the shadow-things she'd become familiar with. At least now she had a name to put to them.

"It's a creature of darkness." he continued. "Nobody's _really_ sure of exactly what they are, except maybe some of the people Sora's mentioned talking with. They're dangerous, though. They'll kill people to steal their hearts, and left unchecked they can devour an entire world pretty quickly. The only way to really kill them is with the Keyblade, which is pretty picky about who gets to use it. Magic, or a sufficiently powerful attack or weapon can destroy them temporarily, but they'll reform later as though nothing had ever happened to them. The only way to put them down for good is to throw Sora at them." He finished sardonically.

Ranma shook her head.

"Not much of that makes sense, to me. Who's Sora?"

"He's the Keyblade wielder. You'll meet him when he gets back."

"Alright. Why do Heartless steal hearts, then?"

"Nobody knows. But it seems to be either to serve as food, or to create more Heartless. Maybe both."

Ranma frowned as she considered that, not exactly delighted with the information given her own personal situation...

"Okay, I think I get Heartless, sort of." She said aloud. "You mentioned an Organization Thirteen after I woke up, though. Who're they?"

Leon snorted, declining to answer.

"Don't we _wish_ we knew." Yuffie chimed in. "We didn't know they existed before this morning, when they had some Nobodies attack the gate to town. Leon and Sora drove them off, of course, but Organization Thirteen showed up after to taunt them and pick a fight. Hey Leon, we've got footage of that, don't we?"

He shrugged, and brought up the video. Ranma watched in mild disinterest as the group of hooded cloaks appeared and started talking, then left, one staying behind to further mock the only human of the trio that were obviously on the other side before leaving himself.

Then the female cloak returned, and Ranma's interest was caught, knowing that the fight was about to start as she manifested an ornate rapier.

_"What do you want now? Want to fight?"_ The one that she presumed was Sora asked, unusual weapon at the ready.

"He doesn't catch on to things quick, does he?" She noted, prompting a half-snort from Leon. Then she froze as the opponent replied.

_"Perhaps that is the case. But my reasons are my own. Do not fear. The Superior has not ordered your death... yet. This is merely a test of my own capabilities."_

"That voice..." She whispered, wide-eyed, only just remembering to clutch at her head as questioning gazes turned her way as the footage continued.

It was actually a decently impressive fight, but over fairly quicly as one of the other cloaks returned to intercede.

_"Xier!"_ he barked, and Ranma could almost see the dissapproval from the girl onscreen at the unknown name, but noted she didn't bother to dispute it. She wordlessly dispelled her sword.

_"Are you nuts? The superior didn't order this!"_

_"So he didn't. But you need not concern yourself in this regard, Axel. I've no intention of causing trouble for the Superior's plans."_

_"What do you call unauthorized mucking about with the Keyblade wielder, then?"_

_"The Superior has not announced any plans for him yet, and I had no intention of bringing his premature death. I have learned much from this battle, as well."_

_"That won't excuse this. Let's go."_

Without another word, the hooded figures onscreen disappeared in a warp of darkness, leaving Sora staring dumbly after. Leon cut the film.

"You recognized something?"

"Maybe. That woman's voice... I knew it the second I heard it, but I could swear I've never heard that name before." Ranma fudged.

Leon grunted, mulling it over but seeming to accept her declaration at face value for now.

"Anyway, they control the Nobodies. All we know from what Sora's mentioned is that they're sort of like the opposite of the Heartless, but just as bad to have around." Yuffie said.

Ranma nodded absently, mind more focused on replaying the footage she'd seen.

Rei was _alive_. Something strange had happened in that place, but unlike what she'd feared, Rei hadn't died there. It prompted a great sense of relief from her, lifting a ponderous weight of guilt from her shoulders.

They were in seperate bodies now. She couldn't even begin to imagine how that had happened, although she'd be making a few discreet water-temperature experiments later. That was a good thing, though, at the very least they could each have a body all for their very own again.

But... why did it feel so unnaturally wrong, then? The first thought to cross her mind when she'd realized that she was looking at Rei... it hadn't been 'good, she's not dead' or 'I wonder what she's been up to?'.

It had been 'If she's alive and well, then maybe there's a way that we can come together again, like we're supposed to be.'.

She hadn't even realized what she was thinking until she'd already thought it, and she couldn't make sense of it after the fact. Sharing mindspace and a body with the other girl could only have been described as tolerable, or not completely unpleasant at best. Why would she want things to return to the status quo, when they were starting to shape into something like what they were _really_ supposed to be?

She just couldn't figure it out, and so put herself to wondering what Rei had gotten up to in the unknown amount of time since they were parted instead.

xxx

A.N.

Yes, KH2. I've been wanting to do this since, oh, just far enough into the pokemon arc that I couldn't rewrite it all on a whim once I finally played the game. But oh yeah, this should be good. I haven't overlooked the whole 'soulmate' thing either, that should play a part.

If you were 'waiting for them to get seperated' or whatever, then eh, enjoy. Someone mentioned that they wanted Ranma to get back to a male body... um, I hate to say this, but with the whole 'completely and utterly destroyed' thing? Yeah, not exactly in the cards. Even giving Ranma a body of her own was a rewrite before posting thing, original plan called for her to be just a head-voice. This worked out better.

So, anyway, I watched Dead Fantasy again, wrote that psuedo-fight scene in the Kingdom Hearts Chamber above, went 'Gaaaah... this would be so much better if I could animate it instead of farting around with 'he kicked him, she punched her' descriptions. Why don't I do that?', and downloaded Blender. Riiiiight about then, the plan hit the brief snag of, you know, my not having the slightest idea what the hell I'm doing with the program. Couple hours screwing around with random buttons later, it was back to writings and finishing the chapter.

At some point I'll download tutorials and how-to manuals for the thing as well, and _may_ or _may not_ ever actually get anything done with the whole 3d video thing. No actual promises here, if the effort starts to outweigh my own amusement factor, it'll probably kill the idea.

Anyway, next chapter we'll get to see what Rei's been up to, so whenever I get that wrote, it's something to look forward to!


	18. Chapter 18

Wanderer

Rei... actually fits in a lot better with Org. XIII than was expected.

xxx

Ranma had failed.

It was unjust, as had she been in the same position, against such a sudden and insurmountable obstacle, she would likely have done the same.

But still... all she could think of, as she dimly noted that they were being torn apart in a ravenous frenzy, was how she had trusted Ranma to pull through, and she had failed.

As last thoughts go, it could have been better.

But it wasn't her last, she realized, even as their body dissolved but her self-awareness lingered, floating slowly away as everything went black around her. Time passed, in an eternal nothingness.

Was this what it was like to be dead? Rei couldn't help but wonder.

And then there was light, dim but present, and she could feel herself almost coagulating into a new, whole form as the world seemed to fade into existence around her.

She was naked, and her wings seemed tattered, torn, and almost ruined behind her, a far cry from a once pristine glory. Ranma was nowhere to be sensed, in either her body or mind.

A soft pain started at that, but dulled swiftly, as she considered the more pressing matter that it had been the other who could create and access the non-space in which most of their possessions had been stored, food, spare clothing, weapons and tools all. None of which she could reach on her own.

She felt helpless and alone, and was almost disgusted at the realization of just how much she had come to rely upon their symbiosis as she attempted to withdraw into her mind to consider what next was to be done, and failed, as there was none to take her place.

She stared upwards instead, contemplating the moon above in an attempt to distract herself and clear her mind. It was a strange shape, and gave off an almost unfinished air, as though the celestial body was actually under construction but not yet complete. She frowned as she considered it further.

Yes... add a bit there and there, round it off there, allow that to stretch to a point.... the odd lumps of the moon would become a stylized heart. Hearts again. They seemed to hold some far deeper significance in this new reality than a mere stylized representation.

She looked down to the city surrounding her. It was poorly lit and dingy, and she could see the shadow creatures from that cavern before flitting from shadow to shadow, oddly ignoring her in their rushes. She considered attacking them, but reconsidered at the possibility that it would call down another swarm upon her head.

"The heartless are restless." A male voice called softly to her. "They know that a powerful heart has been added to their number, and they rejoice in their own simple fashion."

She turned to acknowledge the speaker, a black cloaked man who held his arms open, palms up.

"Welcome, child... to the World that Never Was, to which all nothingness must return before its final end. But speak. I am sure that you have many questions."

"Are we dead?" Rei wondered, bringing what she felt was the most pertinent to bear first.

"Dead? That is not so. But neither do we live. We merely... exist, in a state that can not truly be called either 'life' or 'death'."

"What has happened to us?" Rei asked again, speaking of both herself and Ranma, although the man mistook her meaning.

"What has happened indeed. Can you not sense it? Have you not yet realized, child? It is _your_ heart, torn away from you, which the Heartless so eagerly celebrate. And so, with your life and warmth and emotion ripped from you, all that is left is the husk before me, birthed of emptiness and sired by the darkness. As, once, I myself and indeed, all Nobodies have been."

"My heart...?" Rei wondered, putting a hand to her chest. There was no soft and reassuring beat beneath the skin.

More than that realization, it was her lack of surprise at the discovery which surprised her.

"Then she still lives?"

"Your Other does indeed still linger on, somewhere. As one of any number of identical Heartless, most likely." The man stated callously. "You can feel it now, can you not? That burning desire within you? You wish to become whole once more, to reclaim your Heart."

Rei frowned, dimly realizing that this was not so. A flicker of interest had indeed crossed her mind at the idea, but nothing like the sudden obsession that this man presumed her to hold.

"It is the eternal dilemma of the Nobody." The man lamented somberly. "Driven to regain that which is lost, searching for one, specific key amidst great oceans of near identical keys, the missing halves torn away from us... It is a hopeless quest and a fool's errand. But look above! We are fashioning our own escape from purgatory. A Kingdom Heart! Once complete, this world formed of nothingess and illusion, vapor and mist, will become real in and of its own right! And with it, new, perfect hearts, for ALL Nobodies, delivering us from this wretched existence to a new life."

The man drew to a close, then tossed a hooded cloak near identical to his own to the ground beside Rei.

"My name is Xemnas. From here, you must make a decision. Seek out your heart, alone and unaided, fruitlessly clawing for a single grain of gold dust amongst a desert of sand... or join us, in fellowship with others bearing your same burden, each striving towards that common goal. Should you choose to become one of our number, merely seek out the Castle, on that horizon, and you will be welcomed with open arms."

Xemnas disappeared into the shadows, and Rei frowned slightly down at the cloak before picking it up.

It had all been a recruitment spiel, designed to paint the situation such that the best available option was whatever that man wished.

Even as she recognized that, however, she knew that there weren't very many options left before her. The man had spoke of 'worlds' in a sense heavily implying that there were multiple in this reality capable of sustaining life, in a close enough area that they were capable of acknowledging each other's existence. If so, then the odds of tracking down Ranma were long indeed, if she wished to make the attempt, as she not only had no idea which planet would be a good place to start looking for that cavern, but lacked any means of traveling between the worlds.

With a sort of dull resignation, she drew her wings back inside of herself and put on the cloak, then began the long walk.

xxx

"So you're the new Number Twelve!" Demyx said, having cornered her a few days later within the castle's labyrinthine structure, Axel looking idly on. "Xier was what the Superior called you, right?"

"I would prefer you not address me so intimately. Ayanami-san, if you find that you must speak with me."

Demyx chuckled and plopped a hand companionably on her shoulder, ignoring the chilly frown as he tried his best to shift off his status as 'Organization Butt Monkey' to the most recent arrival through a combination of feeble intimidation and failed seduction. He'd never be at the top of the heap, but with any luck he didn't have to be at the bottom forever...

"Hey, don't be like that. And that's not really your name anymore, anyway. You think I was always 'Demyx'? You'll get used to it though. Hey, how about I give you a little tour of the castle? We have some quiet places that are really hard to get to, but have a fantastic view of the moon! What do you say, great idea, right?"

"Kindly remove your hand from my person." Rei requested, her expression having become simply glacial.

"...... And if I don't?" Demyx asked, deciding to forgo all theatrics and feigned friendliness.

Demyx would never quite be sure what happened next, but one moment he was standing, and the next he was kneeling, with the offending arm dislocated and the other twisted painfully behind his back. Rei, for her part, was pleased to note that she'd picked up a few things from long term association with Ranma.

"_Ow ow ow ow ow! Lemme go! I'm sorry! Ow! Lemme go!_" Demyx whimpered, realizing that he'd botched things and making himself as pathetic as possible in the hopes of buying mercy.

"Heh. Never learn, do you." Axel snarked. "You've only tried that on, what, the last six new recruits, and pretty much the same thing happened every time? Lame."

"_I will do anything you want, if you just stop hurting me!_" Demyx continued, prompting a calculating look from Rei. She nudged his arm another half inch, prompting a squeal of pain.

"I believe the correct phrase to use in a situation such as this is 'Who's yo' daddy, biatch!', am I correct?" Rei mused, drawing from the closest references she had available, which were a series of novels that Gendo would _really_ have been horrified over having come into her possession, much less her actually reading them, regularly, having mistaken them for scientific cultural studies.

"You're my daddy! You're my daddy! Just let me go, please!"

"Fair enough. I own you now." She stated flatly, kicking him to the side. "And I suppose you wanted to speak with me as well?"

"Yeah. Demyx got here first, though. But now that's over and done with, need to talk to you. C'mon. Or stay here, whatever, but it's in your best interests to listen."

Rei frowned as Axel left, and after a moment she walked slowly after.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." He said, once she had caught up. "Anyway, bit of an introduction to the whole thing for you, otherwise you'll be months figuring everything out. Probably know some already, just don't have words for it. But number one, your emotions are gone. That's what it means to be without a Heart, a Nobody. We all still act them out... out of habit at first, and later because stuff gets really boring if we don't, and sometimes we'll shift things up for a few days at a time and pretend completely different emotions than our typical character, just for variety, but none of us actually have them."

He shrugged idly.

"Leads us straight to number two. The organization has its good and bad points. It's a good thing, because a bunch of strong Nobodies can get a lot further than one or two strong Nobodies when it comes to getting things done, none of us can be in two places at the same time or anything. And it's not so great because we're a bunch of strong Nobodies in regular contact with each other and, basically, we're all assholes. To a greater or lesser degree, yeah, but we are. It's probably because the negatives of what we were shine through so much more clearly in the memories of what we once were."

"You say that, yet you seem rather helpful. Curious." Rei mused, filing the information away.

"Superiors orders, you know? Help you settle in quick and easy and all. And I was going to just ignore them anyway, but I hadn't figured out quite yet whether I was going to burn you to _ash_, or just until you were a mass of horrible scars, and then you went and totally humiliated Demyx, which really reminded me of the previous Number Twelve.... so yeah. Call it fond memories of her, or whatever."

"If, as a Nobody, you have no emotion, and likely you only met this person after you had both joined the organization, then how can your memories of her be fond?" Rei asked, reasonably.

Axel considered that for a long moment.

"That's because _shut up_. Call it memories of being regularly stabbed in the sack with electrified knives and not yet being particularly interested in finding out just _how_ similar the two of you are, then." he admitted. "Anyway point is, you're getting a kind of day of grace or so, before all the jockeying for position starts. Now I won't lie to you, if you screw up, and end up pushing things with someone you can't actually take, it'll probably end with you getting horribly raped. But usually, what with that one guy dead in castle Oblivion and all, that's just in the metaphorical sense of grievous bodily harm, which should be a load of worries off your delicate female sensibilities."

"Am I allowed to ravage Demyx into mewling, catatonic submission if he gives me lip, then?" Rei mused, once more drawing upon her cultural studies. "As I became as we are at a rather unfortunate time, my hormones are in significant flux, and most of my theories lead to the same solution in regards to settling them." Actually, it was probably a good thing that Ranma wasn't around, as the whole 'was once a strictly heterosexual male' thing would probably get in the way of those experiments. She considered that for a moment, realizing that it might also be a number of other things, as she also didn't seem to act on any significant interest in feminine...

"Huh. Or not, I guess." Axel grunted, wrecking Rei's train of thought. "More and more like Larxene... Anyway, most of your time will be spent training in manifesting a weapon, then creating dark corridors, then harnessing your new powers to summon Heartless and Nobodies and... whatever else you got out of the deal. There tends to be an element involved somewhere. I got fire, in case you hadn't guessed. Demyx has water, Larxene had lightning. Xaldin got... magic spears, or something, Luxord got to impose his gambling addiction on reality, and the Superior has... lasers, I think... actually I'm not entirely sure how it all works out. But you'll figure it out. Or die in a training accident. But hey, why worry, right?"

As weeks passed on, she noted that that first lesson from Axel had been the most useful, when dealing with the other inhabitants of the Castle that Never Was.

xxx

"I've got to go." Ranma decided aloud, after the third replay of the captured footage from Rei's fight. "I... have to find that person. It's important."

"Um, okay? Sure you don't want to stay around for introductions?" Yuffie wondered. "I mean... Sora could probably help you out. That's kind of what he does."

Leon just grunted, disinterested with the talk.

"It's a kind offer... but no thanks. I've pressed your hospitality long enough anyway." And entirely aside from that, she was growing more uncomfortable with being here, the longer she remained. It would probably take a while to get used to the new subconscious desire to eat everyone around herself.

"Well, alright. It's your business after all. I guess that person is the key to your memories or something?"

"I... don't know why that would be the case.... I just have to find her."

Yuffie shrugged and opened the door for Ranma, who stepped through, almost running into a very old man in a pointy blue hat and robe. For his part of things, Merlin was every bit as surprised to see her as she was to see him. Then he looked deeper, and saw something that surprised him even further, and as he automatically stepped back he spoke a single word, which caused everything to go sour all at once.

"Heartless!" He said, and would later find some regret in doing so.

Ranma didn't even have a chance to say anything before her danger sense flared and she hurled herself in a roll to the side, pressing off the outside wall of the house and leaping away, Leon's gun-sword-thing having clanged down into the step where she'd been standing only a moment before.

"What the hell!?" She barked. "You just... did you just try to _cut me in half_? Seriously?"

"Leon, why did-"

"You heard Merlin." Leon cut off, eyes cold and blade ready as he left the house. "He said she was a Heartless... he wouldn't say something like that as a joke, and he doesn't just make mistakes about that sort of thing."

"What are you _talking _about? You showed me a picture of a Heartless before, and I look nothing like that!" Ranma tried, glancing for escape routes.

"Enough lies, Heartless!" Leon spat back. "I'm disgusted that you managed to fool us for so long, and I don't know what sort of sick plan you're trying to pull off, but you may as well drop the act and disguise already, because it ends right here."

"What _part_ of this isn't getting through your _thick skull_? There is no disguise!" She carefully skipped past any mention of an act. "This is what I look like! What the hell is your prob-"

She bit off her sentence and lurched into a dodge as Leon blurred at her, swinging at about neck height, and hurled herself away to clear some distance.

"Will you _stop that_ already? You're going to hurt someone!"

"That's _exactly_ my intention, Heartless!"

"Hey guys!" Sora yelled from nearby, adding another dimension entirely to the equation. In a brief moment of reflection, Ranma realized that she probably should have seen that one coming.

"She's a Heartless. Little help?" Leon yelled back, before she could try to defuse the situation, and the kid whipped out his key-sword thing, eagerly jumping into the fight.

"One thing after another." Ranma growled softly. "Look, I don't _want_ to fight, alright?" She yelled, biting down the weird sense of self-disgust the statement brought.

"Then hold still and die, Heartless." Leon answered, not at all interested in settling things over tea and biscuits. He went in low, Sora went high, and Ranma had to resort to a series of ridiculous acrobatic maneuvers to avoid their attacks.

"Look if you would just... just listen to me for one minute! Hey! Stop.... stop it! Look, I just... my _hair_! Son of a bitch, you just cut my _hair_, Leon! Screw this! If it's a fight you want, then FINE!"

Ranma scowled and leapt managing to get some distance as she pulled out two pokeballs, letting loose Gardevoir and Scyther, who entered the battle without sparing a moment to gawk at the new surroundings. Scyther took Leon, speed and natural razorblades putting him quickly on the defensive, and Gardevoir's psychic power rapidly overwhelmed Sora, allowing him to make strikes which were automatically countered with overwhelming force.

"Man. See, if you two had just _listened_ to me... or heck, at least given me the benefit of the doubt here, I'd be long gone and wouldn't have to spank you like the naughty little puppies you are."

"You-!" Leon started, before Scyther kicked him in the stomach.

"Shut up, puppy. Now, what...."

Ranma's rambling was interrupted as Gardevoir abandoned the fight with Sora to teleport her out of the way of a falling storm of jagged icicles, directed by a duck.

"Oh, right, the sidekicks. People are just _crawling_ out of the woodworks to get at me, aren't they?" Ranma said, frowning. This was kind of what it was like back in Nerima, and as she realized that a niggling doubt about the point of returning home arose, and was swiftly quashed. "Whatever. Keep them occupied, my lady."

Ranma ignored the slightly less overwhelmingly in her favor battle as she squatted down next to Sora.

"So... what's your story, kid?" She wondered, and was answered by a swipe through the air where her ankles had just been a moment before. "Ugh... you'd still rather fight, I guess. Oh well. If I have to beat you all unconscious before you let me go, then so be it."

Sora rose and started in on the fight again. He actually wasn't all that bad of a swordsman, Ranma noted, but whatever training he'd gone through was nothing like hers had been. He was leagues behind. Compounding that was that weapon of his, a very unwieldy shape, which he was swinging around as though it were just any old sword. It was impressive that he could do it at all, but it lost a lot of oomph like that, which drug him a little further behind still. Even so, he was just good enough that she couldn't just dodge everything he did without any effort, and when she tried to deflect the key by pushing it out of the way with her palm instead of avoiding it she learned exactly why he could afford such sloppiness.

Whatever else that key thing was, it was _serious_ magic. She'd had to bite off a strangled scream the moment she touched it, and as she staggered back that arm had fallen limply to her side, both in agonizing pain and completely numb, in a bizarre contradiction of sensation. She felt Gardevoir's arms take hold of her, and then they were on the roof, Scyther breaking away from her own scrap with Leon to join them.

She collapsed to her knees and clutched at her shoulder, looking down in a sort of dull shock at the motes of blackness floating freely now about it, and in and out of the arm itself.

"The _hell_? My _arm_! What is that thing?" She growled, shaking herself and, for the most part, throwing off the shock as she withdrew Scyther. "You know what, I don't even care. You punks wanted a fight, I gave you one, and now I'm leaving. You can just kiss it!"

Gardevoir nodded and the two of them dissapeared in a flash of blue, leaving the frustrated combatants behind.

xxx

"What's it been now... twenty minutes, thirty?" Ranma remarked, miles away, rubbing at her numb elbow. "Man... and only now does the feeling start to come back. That's just great. I guess that weapon of his has to have been custom tailored to kill... whatever I am now. Heartless-thingies. Gah. That'll be all kinds of pain in the ass... I'll have to remember that, in case I meet that punk again. You did good. Now... I think I'm going to take a nap."

Ranma recalled Gardevoir and looked around carefully. Nobody, nothing but blue stone for as far as she could see in any direction except the distant town and the funky castle. She stretched and sat down, leaning back into a rock, shifted a little, and closed her eyes.

It was barely five minutes more before they snapped open again and she hurled herself out of the way of another key-sword, swung at her throat.

"Great... just great. And now I can safely say that the key thing isn't a one-off magic weapon, that's just magnificent." She groaned, eyeing the small figure in front of her. "Hey, ears! Don't suppose you're in a listening mood, but like I told the jerks in town, I'm not really interested in the whole mortal combat thing right now. Don't suppose we could... you know... _not_ kill each other?"

She barely managed to pull her second-best sword out of non-space in time to parry the key hurled spinning at her face.

"Guess that's a no." She grumbled. "Ah... hey, what? There's a huge freaking dent in this thing, what the hell? This is tempered steel! Okay, I'm calling bullshit on this one, those things are way too much of a super-weapon."

The opponent rushed in and delivered two more swift slashes, which she parried.

"Sheesh. Two more dents.... aaand now the whole freaking blade is bent to one side a little. That's just fantastic." With a further grunt of disgust, Ranma tossed the blade back into storage.

"So. Normal weapons just ain't gonna cut it here. If I so much as touch that thing, it messes me up good. And you guys keep refusing to just not try to kill me. That doesn't leave me a bunch of options, you know? I'm _trying_ not to have to kill you all here, really I am, but if you don't cut me just a _little_ slack here I'm not seeing much of a choice... and hey, the more irritated and stressed out I am, the better the idea sounds."

"Gosh.... The only Heartless on your level I've seen, or even heard of, was that Seeker of Darkness fella." Mickey shook his head sadly. "For what it's worth, I really am sorry about this, miss. But you're just too big a threat to leave be. Even if you're tellin' the truth, and you're not actually evil... that doesn't mean you'll stay that way. There's no guarantees, and you're a Heartless."

"So.... what then? You want me to just hold still, and it'll all be over quick? Is that it, mouse?"

"I... really am sorry. But it has to be done. Don't worry, though. The Keyblade is a special weapon. It'll free your heart from all the darkness it's wrapped up in. You'll return to the purest light, to Kingdom Hearts, and one day you'll be reincarnated to a new life."

"I'm sure." Ranma drawled, mind searching for an escape and coming up depressingly blank.

Even if she fought him off and won, without taking a single hit... a battle like that would be loud, and she wasn't _that _far away from the town. She'd be right back where she started, with enemies closing in, and she wasn't sure how this one had tracked the teleportation in the first place. She'd have to go all out, and they'd probably be bringing more allies with them... the best solution would be to finish this one off as quietly as possible, then make her escape, but she found herself reluctant to commit to killing him, for whatever reason. All she really wanted to do right now was to _get away_, so that she could consider the new information, and get a start on looking for Rei.

And suddenly, without knowing how she knew, she knew how to do that. She spread her arms wide and grinned.

"I'd guess that you even think your offer is terribly tempting, too. Spiritual whitewashing, go directly to heaven, do not pass go, do not collect two hundred, and an eventual cyclic shuffle back to the mortal coil. Maybe that's all you want out of life. Me though... I've got things to do. So no. I'm not just gonna lay down and die for you. I'll be seeing you around, Mr Mouse, unless the gods are unexpectedly kind."

An orb of white light shot through the air where her head had been as she dropped, the ground beneath her turning black as she fell into it like a pit, back into the darkness between places as several other either suicidal or extremely bored Heartless crawled out of the entrance to cover her escape.

xxx

Taro was enjoying his life back in what he considered 'the real world', and had made his way towards the Tendo dojo to await Happosai for a name change, which he would enforce with his newly awoken psychic abilities.

"Preposterous." Soun barked "The master cannot simply be defeated by such ridiculous carnival tricks."

"_You are my zombie slave. Go get me a pie or something._" Taro replied in a creepy monotone, eyes seeming to spark with a moment of color.

"Yeeesh..... Maaaasterrr...." Soun groaned, lurching to his feet, eyes glazed and drooling as he staggered haphazardly out of the room.

There was a long moment of silence as the remaining household considered that.

".... You know, that probably wasn't the best idea I've ever had." Taro admitted. "Femboy'll probably have something to say, if she ever gets back... oh well, might as well enjoy it while I can."

"Wait, _Ranma_'s psychic too now?" Akane yelled, suddenly horrified about all the ecchi, ecchi things that he could order her to do, and how she would be absolutely humiliated but powerless to resist in the face of his dominating mind control, and how...

She slumped back to her seat, flushing slightly.

"Nah. Ranma aint. That pet of his, though... well, she could probably turn me into a drooling vegetable over this."

"Pet!?"

"Eh... pet, partner, servant monster... I never bothered to work out all the details of that whole Pokemon thing." Taro admitted.

He didn't realize that he'd dropped a Forbidden word until Nabiki tackled him straight from her sitting position and across the room, babbling incoherently and too fast for him to catch anything but snippets of her rapid-fire questions. Kasumi sighed deeply, eyes wandering forlornly over the scattered treats she'd gathered for the occasion.

xxx

A.N.

Aaaa... finals are finaly done, yay! (dies)

Anywho, since I don't actually know much about Evangelion, and I don't know if Rei had much of a backstory, I'm going to say that she's a heavy reader and collects books. Everyone cool with that? Alright, now the book _referenced_ in this chapter, her 'culture studies' would be "Pimp Wars IV: Return of the J-Dawg", an erotic re-writing of a certain famous sci-fi series, in which the J-Dawgs use their Schwartz to battle the forces of evil, gathered under the the banner of the... mumblemumble, couldn't think of a word to fit, mumblemumble, who use the Dark Side of the Schwartz in all manner of BDSM debaucheries and....

You know, I'm getting way too into this. Let's just say Gendo would have _good reason_ to freak if he figured out she read this series regularly, even devotedly.

So yeah, she fits into the XIII almost too well, given stuff that I wont reveal because it'll spoil later chapters.

Ranma, now. Yeah. NOBODY likes Heartless at their tea parties. Sorry, Ranma. And yeah, that keyblade is going to be a pain. Those, rather. What the hell, how many of these things are there, do they hand them out in cereal boxes? Poor Ranma. New planet time!

The Taro thing I just tacked on the end for the lolz.


	19. Chapter 19

Wanderer

xxx

Between was filled with Heartless. Not merely the stunted, shadow creatures and their gigantic brethren, but forms similar to the shadows, but at the size of a grown human rather than a small child or toddler, and each somehow unique, different from all the others. Growths that gave an effect calling hairstyles to mind, or occasionally light traceries of grey that didn't quite match their black skin, serving as psuedo-scars.

Ranma could only imagine that these unfortunates had been like her, consumed by the darkness, but with too much force of will to completely surrender to a hive mind as mere drones. And yet, they hadn't _quite_ been able to find the strength to reform themselves entirely into their own image, or to set their own minds completely to rights. She closed her eyes in a moment in mourning to them before she looked out upon the rest.

There were all manner of strange heartless, fat and round, turbaned with sabers, floating little bird-things and things in funny hats, skeletal monstrosities and horrors of twisted black hooks and blades, walking armor.... with every breath she took, a new, unique form of heartless revealed itself to her eyes, and she could not begin to wonder how so very many varieties had come into existence.

She shook her head and realized it didn't matter, merely was, and looked up. Far above, the portal she'd fallen through had closed to the merest pinprick of light, one of a number of uncountable psuedo-stars above. She much doubted that the Heartless that had left had survived more than long enough to ensure her escape, and felt a moment of pity for them as she looked down.

The Heartless had gathered patiently around, like a court of barbarians awaiting orders from their warrior-queen.

"Alright, then... fine." Ranma murmured softly, wishing Rei was around to bounce ideas off of. She wasn't good with planning out what to do, when it didn't involve training or preparing for a duel of some sort. She had never been a great thinker, and after the union with Rei she'd eagerly foisted much of that off onto her while taking up the more physical duties that she preferred for herself.

And now Rei was gone, and she was forced to think and plan for herself once more, no idea whether or not she was making the best possible choice. So she had to fall back on what she knew.

And what she knew was, summed up, how to hit things.

"FINE!" She repeated again, roaring at the top of her lungs. "If they are so desperate to make an enemy of me, then I'll be the enemy they want! If I cannot pass peacefully through a place on my search, then I will pass through it by force! Heartless! You are my Army, and while I am with you I will _carve_ a trail to my other half, wherever she may be!"

The dark horde bellowed unanimously, in apparent approval of the plan. Ranma scowled and withdrew her all but ruined sword, then cast it on the ground, where it bounced twice before a chunk of blade cracked off and scraped away from the main mass.

"But not yet. We aren't ready yet. There is much to do." She shook her head. "Weapons! I need weapons... Powerful weapons. Magical weapons. Weapons that can match against that.... _damn_ key, and not be ruined like that _trash_ on the ground that was once a decent sword. If any of you know where such weapons might be kept, only lightly guarded, or not at all, or forgotten... then GO. Find them! Claim them! Bring them to me! And not just weapons... armor, shields, anything of that sort that can be of use. GO!"

The horde bellowed again, as one, and dozens left to follow her command.

Ranma watched them leave, then squatted down to examine the black floor of this place between. It was almost, but not quite, stone. She pried up a chunk and released it, and it floated gently in the air before her as she stared at the substance.

Ranma sat down and considered that for a long time, then began issuing more orders.

xxx

Not long had passed, but with hundreds of minions at her command, the place had changed so much as to be nearly unrecognizable once the Heartless that had left for collecting her toys had returned.

Some of the creatures had proven capable of producing magical fire, and Ranma had directed that large, crude basins be carved of the floating not-stone, and that they create a permament flame within them, far brighter than than the dim light from the 'stars' above.

And so, the area had been lit suitably for Ranma's work.

Further experimentation with the not-stone had revealed that, when ground to powder and mixed with a sort of bubbly, dark liquid that welled up in springs nearby, it became a tar-ish, mortar-like substance.

Ranma had set most of the heartless to carving out stone and mixing together this not-mortar as a few others were sent out to steal paper and writing materials for her, and she drew up plans quickly. It hadn't been long before a base had been put together, and construction of her new, floating cathedral-ish fortress began in earnest, the Heartless functioning like a well oiled machine to fulfill her wishes, despite no doubt having never set themselves before to construction or masonry work.

The weapons and armor had begun coming in. For the most part, the Heartless just hauled their loot in and dumped it, uncaring, into a pile, although some were so haphazard as to simply have dragged their spoils behind them the whole way. It was fortunate that nothing seemed to be damaged from the effort.

It was almost an unnerving surprise when one of the superior shadows had entered, its one eye glowering and flashing at every other Heartless which ventured too close, clutching its prize tenderly to its chest, like an infant, the sword held carefully in a dusty scabbard clipped to a rough, half-rotten leather belt. It walked to her and knelt, ignoring the pile, as it bowed its head and offered up the weapon in tribute, the very image of a knight before its liege-lord.

Ranma took and unsheathed the blade, marvelling at it for a moment as it thrummed slightly with power in her hand, much as all the others had. She sheathed it, and noted that the superior shadow had stood and turned, as though to leave.

"Wait." She ordered calmly. "Come here."

It did so, returning itself to its position kneeling before her, and a long moment passed.

"This sword... it's more to you than any of these others were to any of those who brought them to me. You can't tell me your story... But there is something I _know_ you can do. That knowledge is.. flowing into my mind, from the very darkness surrounding us, and the overmind connecting all our kind, no matter how tenuous the link. _Show_ me."

The Heartless raised its gaze to meet hers, and the world shattered around them, broken into a fractured series of memories.

_She was Beatrix, the commanding General of the noble armies of her Lady Brahne, Reigning Queen of all Alexandria, and she was standing watch over her liege-lady as she viewed a play. There was an interruption from behind, as the Queens two favored jesters burst in, apparently with urgent news, and were turned away by Adelbert Steiner, captain of the ridiculous Knights of Pluto, which were nearing the end of a long decline. Not missing a chance to subtly prod at the jealous man, she allowed the two passage when they beseeched her for it...._

_.... the kingdom to the west had fallen, first the capital of Burmecia, then the last stronghold of Cleyra, to the Alexandrian armies. It had been a slaughter, and she regretted the loss of life, but there had been no surrender offered, and she had done her duty. Still, she mistrusted these golems of black magics she had been ordered to use in the assault, and questioned why it had been neccessary to use a mighty summoned entity to utterly destroy the Tree-city until there was nothing left but an enormous stump in the midst of a desert...._

_... her own daughter! Surely, there had to have been some mistake, surely the lady queen could not have done such a thing to her own flesh and blood! But no, the proof was before her eyes, and she did what she could to aid the princess, then turned and fought at the side of the renegade Steiner, who only a handful of minutes before had been the enemy..._

_... mages everywhere! The escape from Alexandria had turned into a fiasco, hundreds and hundreds of mage-golems waiting for them in the depths of the catacombs through which they had tried to escape, but fortunately luck was with them as the golems appeared to be malfunctioning, and had distracted Brahne enough in getting them back under control that they had been able to escape past her into the interior palace...._

_... completely and utterly beyond any control. The golems had turned and torn Brahne apart, and now rampaged against every living creature put against them. But no... no, these were not, had perhaps never been, simple golems. These were something different, and as their constraining 'uniforms' were torn away, it was revealed that they were bindings, and the creatures within the latest series of the Black Mages burst free, far more terrible and difficult to kill than they had ever been. Once more, she volunteered herself to hold off the tides of enemies such that the escape of the Princess might be made, her soldiers, not yet informed of everything occured, fighting at her side, confused but loyal to the end. She was the last to fall..._

_... she could feel her mind steadily slipping away as she looked down upon her own funeral, her treasured blade, Save the Queen, being set gently into an alcove of her tombstone to protect it from the elements. Steiner's gaze snapped up to her and he snarled, drawing his broadsword to drive the creature that was all that was left of her away..._

_... Hunger. Pain. Hunger. Soul-wrenching hunger. A lone heart. Food. Hunger. Feed. Pain. Feed. Hunger. ...._

_... Hunger. Strong one speaks. Words. Understand words, but long, so long. Dim recollections swirling. Weapon. Strong one wants weapon. Magic weapon, strong weapon, for strong one. It knows where to find it, yes it does, it remembers a strong weapon. Hunger..._

_... Her thoughts clear somewhat as she enters the ancient cemetery, its familiarity stirring something within her. There's a tombstone ahead. That's the one... it's where the weapon is hidden, the strong one that she remembers, that the strong one wishes. She cannot return now empty-handed. She reaches into the crevice and takes hold of it, and as she removes and stares at it, she somehow feels more... herself, than she has done in decades, her sword once more in her possession..._

The lurching, twisting maelstrom of half-recalled memories ground to a stop, and Ranma blinked slowly, considering the fount of new knowledge.

"I see. Beatrix. That is who you were, before..." She mused, for a moment, on the similarity of names to Bellatrix, then shook it off. She held the blade out for the Heartless to reclaim.

"This is yours. I would not so casually seperate a warrior from her sword. Take it, and seek out the pieces of yourself that it is tied into. If you're lucky... you might just end up a general of armies again."

The superior shadow took the blade as though it were the most priceless, fragile treasure in all of the world, cradling it to her chest once more.

As she left, Ranma could almost think she saw, for just a moment, the silhouette of a proud lady-knight overlaying the monstrous body. And then she blinked, and it was gone, and she was forced to wonder whether or not it might have been simply her imagination.

She shook her head and returned her attention to the pile, knowing that it had been small enough a gesture on her part. She could only use one weapon at a time, after all, and had intended the rest to be divided amongst notable Heartless from the beginning.

xxx

In the end, she had selected a spiked metal club, which very much called to mind the Oni of her homeland's myths. She had almost foregone armor entirely, but had eventually concluded that it would be neccessary, as the odds of finding herself in a position where she couldn't bring the club into a parry _quite_ fast enough were substantial, and having a thin layer of soft maybe-leather in between the key and her unnaturally vulnerable flesh would be almost as bad as nothing at all. She had selected the lightest, least restrictive set available, consisting only of a breastplate and guards to protect her forearms and shins, fashioned of some silvery material that had tarnished just enough to give it a green cast. She wasn't entirely sure what metal it _was_, exactly... the closest thing she could guess was actually silver itself, but the armor was strong and unbending. Perhaps that was the magic of it, then, simply to make a ridiculous extravagance into a usable piece of equipment. Of course, time alone would tell if they would serve as a match or defense against those keys, or whether the whole thing had been in vain from the beginning.

Either way, she had to train, to accustom herself to the new weight. To do that, she had to be alone, as she didn't particularly want the Heartless to be tempted by the hearts of her pokemon.

She looked up at the sky. Somehow, even hours later and after moving, she could pick out the exact portal she'd used before from all the rest. Their colors were all different, too, and some she could look at, and some of the colors would register as being someplace that she could not pass through a portal to immediately, that the place behind it was sealed so tightly she would have to nibble away at the protections for years before she could safely pass through. She turned away from those, and looked longer.

She selected, after a period of searching, a portal somewhere between the two extremes. Not quite like Hollow Bastion, where there were so many heartless and so few blocks on the portal that she could travel there at any time without any real effort, but not one that would require any significant effort on her part to pierce through either. With luck, she would be out of the way of wandering Heartless and Key swingers there.

She called the portal down as simply as plucking an apple from a low branch, still not entirely sure how she was doing it, and left orders for construction to continue in her absence before stepping through.

Her skull throbbed with her first step to the other side, almost forcing her to her knees. She staggered slightly, but kept her balance.

"What...?" She mumbled, portal closing behind her, before shaking the sudden pain off.

"Ugh... what was I just doing? Starting a... war? That's not..." She shook her head. "Tch... this is just great. Was it that place...?"

She thought about it for a long moment, then sighed.

"Yeah... I can't think of anything else. The central, controlling overmind of the drones. It was... heavy there. Concentrated, and focused. Haha.... That mouse... I guess he was right. I might just have no choice about my allegiances..."

The realization was a bitter pill, but she choked it down. She was still, for the most part, independent... but she was also linked to a deep, enveloping and smothering darkness, and as she came closer to it, she grew in knowledge and power. But in exchange, she ran the risk of being tainted by it, her very thoughts influenced heavily by that darkness, yet seeming as reasonable to her as if they were her very own.

"Is it... worth it?" Ranma wondered aloud, weighing all the benefits against that very real risk, becoming lost forever as no more than a puppet for the darkness' whims.

She blasted a dead tree with what she had meant to be ki, but had come out as some form of dark energy, venting her frustrations, then watched as a writhing, shadowy blackness spread up the arm she had used. After a long moment and a focusing of her willpower, the spread halted and slowly receded, almost sullenly.

"It's... not like I actually have a choice, though." Ranma mumbled, resignation already settling in. "I'll just have to be careful of everything I do... or even think, and keep an eye out for when it _isn't_ worth the risk anymore. By then... with any luck, I'll have other options."

The tree slowly crumbled inwards to ash as she walked away, taking in the scenery. It was... in a word, bleak. Lots of dead trees scattered about the black ground, rainclouds hanging thick and heavily overhead... if she squinted, she could almost see a tombstone here and there, and patches of ornate, rusty iron fences that served no apparent purpose.

At the very least, it wasn't likely that she'd be interrupted.

xxx

"... So, what you're saying is that she hadn't actually done anything." Sora said slowly.

"Yet." Leon immediately qualified, ignoring the frown leveled his way from multiple angles. "She hadn't actually done anything 'yet'. But being a Heartless, there's no doubt that she would have done something horrible if she'd had the time or opportunity. It's a good thing you showed up to help me drive her off." He finished confidently.

Sora was awkwardly reminded of a brief period of time in which he'd actually _been_ a Heartless, and resolved that nobody was ever hearing about that incident. Ever. Especially Leon. The Anti-form would be a bad enough bombshell to have to drop, if it showed up at the wrong time...

"It's... it's not that I disagree with you, in theory..." Sora halfheartedly allowed. "It's just... I'm used to Heartless actually doing things _before_ I get involved. It's... sort of a system... they cause trouble, I deal with them, eventually I go hit whatever's pulling the strings."

"A pro-active defense is better than a reactionary one. If you only deal with threats after they've already caused problems, then you'll always be one step behind." Leon declared solemnly.

"I _still_ say we probably didn't have to fight her at all. She seemed nice, and she was _leaving_ when she bumped into Merlin."

"Ah... Yuffie's quite right, I'm afraid." The aged magician spoke up. "While I noticed the girl's nature nearly instantly, it was only the briefest further moment before it was quite clear that she bore no ill intent. Unfortunately, by that time things had already rather escalated..."

Leon grunted in disgust, but shifted awkwardly, not agreeing with any of them, but admitting that his opinion seemed to be in the minority.

"I agree with Leon." Donald suddenly squawked, avoiding Sora's eyes. "It's not nice... but every Heartless we've seen has either been _doing_ something bad, or _planning_ something _really_ bad. And the only Heartless that you couldn't tell wasn't normal right away..."

"Gawrsh! That'd be Ansem!" Goofy realized, then shifted guiltily as Sora turned the slightly-betrayed look his way. "Well... it's true, you know. And it isn't like I like it, but Donald's got a point. It's really sad... but I don't think I've ever heard of anything that might help her."

Leon smiled grimly, noting that opinions were now divided much more evenly.

"Think, Goofy." He encouraged. "You're a soldier, aren't you? Think practically. Even _if_ that Heartless girl doesn't bear us any particular ill will, and all I'm allowing is that it's a very unlikely possibility, she's been so steeped in darkness that any option of bringing her back is long past. And she has to be suffering. You understand, don't you? There is only _one_ mercy remaining for Heartless."

Goofy didn't answer, but something in his eyes told Leon that he understood, and yet it would be for the best that he not press the issue any further.

"I don't believe you, Leon!" Sora yelled. "I... can't just let myself believe that there's no hope for her, even if I don't really know anything about her. Because... because if I do, then what about..."

"There's a big difference between this girl and Riku, Sora. Your friend is not, and has never been, an actual Heartless." Leon stated in a very final tone

He took Sora's flinch as a grudging acknowledgment of the point, not realizing that the other's memories had again flashed back to a short period of time in the Bastion, or that he hadn't been thinking about his friend, but rather himself.

xxx

Ranma spent the next few days familiarizing herself with both the area and her weapons. The latter was simple enough, she only needed to adjust herself very slightly to accomodate the extra few pounds and factor them into her offense and defense, and there didn't seem to be an endless amount of hidden features to the club. As per norm, Gardevoir was her most frequent training partner, although a significant amount of time was spent in complete solitude, directly after those periods wher she abrubtly realized that she was staring at one of her pokemon for far too long, and her mouth had begun salivating.

The area was somewhat more interesting. She seemed to be someplace that was quite thoroughly devoted to the very concept of the western holiday of Halloween... or simply western holidays in general, as she'd found a poorly hidden door in a tree and walked through it to an arctic area, the only particularly notable thing being a cluster of a few buildings through and around which she could see tiny people rushing. It had taken several minutes of inspection before she'd realized that it wasn't just perspective working against her, but that the people she was looking at really were significantly smaller than the norm. Christmas, she finally realized, after eventually glimpsing a portly fellow in red, and she returned to the somewhat warmer area devoted to Halloween.

There had been other doors, once she knew what to look for, but she didn't care to experiment much, and had quickly been about training and left after sneaking into town, avoiding the inhabitants and replacing a rather large stock of food with a small pile of gold, the former of which she'd used to feed her devoted pokemon. She herself had eaten only a little, and more out of habit than anything else, as it seemed that the only hunger she was now subject to was not something that could be sated by mere foodstuffs.

Of course, perhaps it was simply too much to hope, that she would be left completely alone. The second day after her sort-of theft, her meditations were interrupted by a man in a ragged cape, carrying a bandage-wrapped sword that had to be as large as he was. Ranma instantly decided that it was clear compensation of some sort, while staring balefully at hime, repressing the twinge of hunger that came with a fresh heart appearing before her.

"What do you want?" She grunted irritably, wishing the man would just go away.

".... Huh. Are you the thief?" The man asked.

She glowered at him, not answering.

"There's been a... weird theft. They aren't really upset about it... just confused. So I was hired to investigate."

"And so... your investigations typically start with random accusations?" She remarked, ignoring that she was, in fact, the culprit. He probably had no evidence though, so it was fine.

"... Huh. Maybe they do. But in this case... it doesn't matter."

He scrutinized her carefully.

"Short. Red hair. Black leather." He noted, tallying things off. "I didn't expect... to run into you. I guess it's fate. Sorry."

He shrugged, and suddenly _moved_, blade hammering down into the space she had been sitting, and kicking up a cloud of dust.

"Man..." she remarked dryly from her new position, behind him. "You didn't _really_ expect to one-shot me like that, did you?"

"... Huh. I guess not. The bounty Leon set on you... it was pretty big, after all."

"Hmph. Why not run along after your thief, blondie? I'm not interested in killing you."

"... Really. That's too bad. Or didn't you hear me? The bounty Leon set on you... it was pretty big. And I'm going to collect it."

Ranma snorted and hopped backwards, dodging the horizontal spin that would probably have cleaved her in half if it had connected.

"Tch. I guess I don't have a choice, then." She muttered, tugging the club free from her belt. "So... got a name, blondie? I need to know... or your tombstone will be blank."

"... It's Cloud. Cloud Strife. And yours?"

Ranma grinned slowly.

"My name? It doesn't matter, does it. Only the dead have need of tombstones."

With a clash of metal on metal, the battle began in earnest. In all respects, Ranma could say that they were pretty much equal. He had the range and power advantages, but she was more than fast enough that he couldn't really hit her, despite his unnatural dexterity with that ridiculous sword of his. At the same time, she had to get much closer to him to strike, which somehow always gave him just enoug time to pull in his oversized blade enough to use it as an effective shield.

"Tch... getting nowhere. Try this, then!" She barked, swinging the club in an overhead crush from a distance. Cloud blinked, but hastily pulled into defense as the weapon swelled outwards and extended rapidly, to the point where it out-sized his own weapon by several times.

Ranma smirked as the blow impacted, and the club returned to normal almost instantly.

"So, how do you like my Oni's Kiss?.... eh?"

The dustcloud settled, revealing Cloud still intact, bracing his sword above him, albeit with his feet having been driven into the earth up to the knees. With a savage wrench, he pulled first one, then the other loose.

".... Not bad." He admitted. "But the Buster Sword has never failed me. Still... I think it's time to get serious.

Points of colored light suddenly flashed and glowed eerily all over his body.

xxx

A.N. Cliffhanger'd!

I like Beatrix. So, you know, obviously I had to work her into the story somehow. And while I _could_ have put it off and just visited FFIX-land later ons... eh, this was better for me. I'll probably do something similar with Cecil... the whole 'Dark Knight, Paladin' dynamic thing is so good for this that I can't help but wonder why they didn't use him somewhere in KH, instead of overloading on the angtsy pretty-boys.

So, it's Materia time. Yeah, that's gonna be important. Kudos if you can guess why!

Plot is still evolving, growing on me. There's like... six or seven ways I can go with this stuff that I've considered thus far, depending on what I decide on.

...... One of these days, I'll probably cut all the chapters of this into tiny pieces and put them in an addventure or something, just to see where other people might take this. Maybe. You know, if I get around to it, sort of thing.


	20. Chapter 20

_"The monsters are incredible. Normal weapons are nothing against them. Trance works. Magic works, and summons... no, Eidolons cannot be fielded against them any more than a great bull could be considered an adequate weapon against a gathering of hungry sharks." The princess said somberly. "Aside from healing, I am of no use. The only other thing shown to affect them at all are incredibly powerful weapons, made with mystic materials."_

_"We have a lead on Excalibur." rumbled. "Until it is located, however, I am of little more use than the impudent monkey. If fielded alongside Vivi, then a combination attack can have some effect, but not nearly so much as his magics alone. Other weapons are known to exist, but until then-"_

_"SIEGE!" The cry calls, interrupting the knight's words. "They're coming from below!"_

_"Blast!" Steiner roared. "That tunnel was sealed, how could?"_

_"Their forms are mutable. Almost fluid, at times. Hundreds of tons of stone, dropped down... it looks as though it's enough to slow them down, but not halt them."_

_Beatrix shook her head._

_"The princess. See to her escape, an airship should be nearby, and sufficient to outrun them. Pray they've not learned to fly. There is a choke-point below. My soldiers and I shall block their advance."_

_"It's suicide! There is nothing normal weapons can do against them, your soldiers will be no more than-"_

_"Bait. A distraction." Beatrix agrees. "We have all sworn our lives in service. It is no trouble, to have them end before the expected hour."_

_"... Gah. Very well, then. I, also, will-"_

_"Captain Adelbert Steiner." Beatrix interrupts. "Do you mean to leave the princess entirely without royal guard, her security only ensured by those others?"_

_"... Tch. Very well then. However, General Beatrix. I will make this request. Survive. Your princess will have need of you. You must live, retreat the moment her safety is assured."_

_"... Yes. The moment I am certain of the Princess's safety, I will assure my own." Beatrix agrees._

_The battle met, and it seemed that those under her command knew that their doom had come, but the valor with which they fought was not hindered for a moment, none fighting harder than Beatrix herself, her enchanted blade, Save the Queen, the only item on the field which could give pause to the dark hordes._

_But it was not enough. Dozens, hundreds of the fell horde were cut down, but one after another her soldiers fell, and for every twisted being she cleaved in twain, ten more rose to take its place, their teeming hunger endless._

_She saw the air-ship lift off, and that was enough. She knew full well, surrounded by thousands of the creatures as she was, alone, that there was never any hope for her escape from the beginning. She had already begun to tire, but the ship had not gained enough altitude. The occasional leaping demon could yet reach it from the rooftops._

_She redoubled her efforts, sparing no amount of power to keep the hungry eyes focused where she wished them. Here. Ever and only here, and upon her, and not turning away to less savory but more easily taken meals. Her soldiers had risen up, joining the fell horde in their ends, and it was with the utmost regret that she destroyed them once more._

_She had run empty. There was nothing left that she could give. But it was finally enough, the ship had risen high enough to be unreachable. There was some sad attempt, with cannon-fire and launched spells, to clear a path for her own escape. Not enough. It could not possibly have been enough, as the holes closed as swiftly as they had opened. But she could no longer fight._

_As she dropped to her knees, gasping for breath, she did not release the hilt of her blade. A final pair were cut down, mid-leap, by the last swing she could muster the strength of arm to perform. And then they were upon her._

_She knew pain, then, eyes focused on the retreating air-ship. She could almost imagine she saw Steiner's distress, his howls of impotent rage, his betrayal at this broken promise. She prays that he will find some measure of forgiveness for the necessity of it._

_Then her world is engulfed in a merciful darkness._

_... But that is not the end of things. Hunger awakes her, and hunger drives her forth, the desperate, all-encompassing need to consume pushing her forward, from world to world and through the places between, countless tiny lives lost to her predations, cast into a yawning void that she will never, can never, fill..._

_And then a calm. Not a cessation of the hunger, but a muting of it. Lessening the urgent, unstoppable need to something which might be borne, as an order is given. She knows something. For this little time, she can force herself above the status of a slavering animal, to think again. She knows what to do._

_The blade fits, strangely enough, as easily in her now-warped and twisted hand as it had the day she last swung it. It is right, that she holds it once more. It is good. Not all have the same opinion, as she is found, deep in thought beside a grave-marker, her own name carved carefully into its face._

_"Wretched hell-spawn!" Steiner howls, calm walk transforming into a barreling charge, not slowed a bit by the age shown through the wrinkles of his face. "You dare set your cursed feet to trespass in this hall of fallen heroes? I forbid it! It is unforgivable!"_

_He swings a mighty blade now, rather than one forged of simple steel. Save the Queen is hard-pressed to withstand its might, as she parries the blow. Has he, then, located the fabled Excalibur? If so, good. He might continue to serve, where she has failed._

_She notes only a single engraving on the blade, before she retreats through a door torn into the darkness. 'II'. She knows not what it might mean, but she bears a tiny, perverse pleasure in the knowledge that many, many of her brethren have fallen, and will continue to fall, to that blade._

_Keeping hold of the treasure in her hands was more than she might have expected._

Her eye opened, and Save the Queen whistled through the air, a blast of crackling energy called down against her target. A minor Shadow, one of countless others. There was no regret in her action, nor resentment from the other. Such assaults could not permanently harm such as they, after all, knowledge which would have been greatly appreciated in a former life. Even that mighty blade of Steiner's could do no more than greatly inconvenience her, for a very long time. No, the only weapon which could to permanent harm to one such as they was a Key.

And yet, as weapons went, the Key was not particularly mighty in and of itself. Only its ability to truly harm them made it more notable than any other. And while a blade formed of shadow-stuff might not hold against it... Save the Queen was untainted. A superior blade to the Key, in all respects but that one.

She could not help but, for a moment, wonder what that might mean for the future.

Ranma took a moment to gasp for breath. Thus far, she'd been burned, stabbed, cut, partially frozen, hit by _fucking lightning_, and _trampled by birds_. Her opponent hadn't come off well through the exchange either, but he'd fared better. It was a good thing she would heal all of this.

"I hate those things." She said, conversationally, pointing at his shining spots of light and dripping a bit of black matter before her wounds sealed shut.

"What a coincidence. I hate things that don't die when I kill them." Cloud answered shortly.

"Sounds like a checkmate, then." Ranma shot back with a smirk.

"Not quite." Cloud replied, as one more of his materia shone. Ranma's face fell at the arrival.

"Dragons aren't _fair_!" She howls, as Bahamut inhales deeply.

"Life isn't fair. One such as you should know this full well, heartless. Curse your fate, if you must." Cloud says, and Bahamut sets loose a blast of incredible destruction.

It's all Gardevoir can do, as Ranma releases her, to teleport them out of the way in time. Even clearing it, Ranma still feels fairly singed from the proximity of things, and recalls her quickly to prevent the swordsman from picking her out as another target.

"... That's it. I've had enough." Ranma almost snarls, wisps of darkness curling around her until they coil back into what now passes for flesh. "This fight will take too long to settle, one way or the other, and the more tired I get, the hungrier I become. You... _win_." She says, the last word hissed through grit teeth.

"I have a habit of that." Cloud said, moving his blade in response. "Though to be honest, had I known you were a heartless, I wouldn't have bothered. The bounty is good, but if I can't _kill_ you, then I can't collect, and I'm not in the business of doing Leon's dirty work for free, or for softening up tough opponents so someone else can take the kill. So, then, are you just going to hold still and let me hack you apart enough that you won't be troublesome for a few weeks?"

"Hardly. I'm retreating now." Ranma replied.

"Do you think I'll let you?" Cloud asked.

"Do you think you can _stop_ me?" Was Ranma's sour reply.

... Actually, she wasn't sure if he might not be able to, at least if she tried to escape from this point. If he caused more trouble, she would have to get to some greater distance before she could return to the Between place. Though following her through the portal would probably be the dumbest thing he could do, so she doubted he would make the attempt.

"One thing though, to occupy your mind. Do you know what you've got, there, letting you do such fancy tricks?" Ranma asked, having gotten a good look at them during the fight. Enough to draw some conclusions, at least.

"Materia. Crystallized energy, extracted from the flowing life-stream of the Planet..." Cloud says, then frowns. "... Not from Radiant Garden. Somewhere else, I can't recall..."

"It doesn't matter much where, but you're _right_." Ranma said. "But now, think of this. Worlds and people both have Hearts. Those things are from energy coursing through a planet. And I can almost taste an echo of that world's Heart upon them. You understand? Moving through a body, to and from the heart? What you have there is nothing less than congealed droplets of a world's life-blood." She finished, with a finger pointing dramatically. "A tiny fragment, almost, of its very Heart. For someone with no frame of reference for my hunger... you _cannot imagine_ the temptation they hold. If I could get my hands on even one of them, then it represents a route right to the innermost part of that world's Heart."

She swung an arm.

"So don't you _dare_ lose sight of them, even for a moment!" Ranma declared. "Because if one of us finds it, that world is _lost_, as countless of our number consume its very Heart from the inside out. It's in your best interest, too. A dead Planet can't provide the power to fuel those fancy attacks, can it."

"Reasonable advice. If unexpected, from one of your kind. I'd almost have expected you to try to convince me to throw them away." Cloud said, musingly.

"Shows what you know. You don't think every last one of is content with, things, to just be a slavering beast forever, do you?" Ranma said with disgust. "There's someone I have to find. When I do... I can fix everything, somehow. I know it!"

"... Tch." was the swordsman's only response. He didn't step forward to press an assault, though, even as Ranma stepped backwards into an opening portal.

"And Cloud. My name. It's Ranma Saotome! Forget, and I'll carve the words into your thick skull."

The portal winked shut. Cloud waited for a few minutes afterward, for the expected distraction enemies to show up and try to occupy his time. None did. It was with equal parts confusion, and annoyance, that he put the Buster sword away.

"... What a complete waste of time." He grumbled.

"Arcanine, Fire Blast!" Celia yelled energetically.

Her opponent flinched as the attack seared into his bug-type partner, and he quickly withdrew it in order to keep it in good enough condition for healing.

"... I guess that's that." The gym leader admitted, shaking his head. "You've earned this one fair and square."

"That's right! A single type always has weaknesses, and no matter how strong your bugs are, they can't stand up to Arcanine's sheer firepower."

"Noted. It's a thematic thing, however." He said, shaking his head. "Besides, if I used a more diverse team then nobody would _ever_ win."

"Heh. Confident in yourself, huh Bugsy."

"As a gym leader, it's almost required, young lady." The old man said, dryly. "But nevertheless, you've earned this. The Hive Badge."

He flipped it through the air, and Celia snatched it carefully, smile broadening as she looked down.

"That makes... eight. Four from Kanto. Four from Johto. I can make a regional challenge against either league, now..."

"I wouldn't think you're ready for that quite yet." Bugsy said, with some amusement. "After all, they have fewer thematic stringencies... it's not going to be so easy to defeat them."

"You don't think I know that?" Celia answered. "But I'm not going after them right away anyway. One more region, four more badges..."

"... I see. Pokemon Champion. You set your sights high, girl... it's been fifteen years since anyone made an attempt like that, and they ran out of steam halfway through." Bugsy said, musingly.

"I promised, after all." Celia said, then shook her head. "Heh. Nothings going to stop me. The rest of the Gym Leaders, the Elite Four of every region... they'd better just surrender now, and get it over with!"

"Heh. Confident in yourself, aren't you, girl?" Bugsy echoes ironically.

"You bet. Failure isn't an option here. I _will_ win." She says simply. "It's a long walk to Hoenn, though, and I can't just ride Arcanine the whole way."

"Well, not much to be done there. Stay the night at my place if you want, though. Not much company since the kids all moved out. Can't do much for you, but better than the accomodations at the Pokemon Centers, right?" The old man offers. "You can tell me how your grandfather's been doing since I last saw him."

"You bet!" Celia said, confident that while things were going well here, they had to be going equally well for her rival. Which meant that she had to keep pushing forward, and faster, come morning.

Things were not going very well for Ranma at all.

She remained still, lying on her back as she stared up into the darkness and portals above, reviewing and deeply considering the fight she had ended up in. It grated at her, but even if she _hadn't_ just given up the victory, she was slowly coming to the conclusion that she would have lost. She'd fought a lot of things. Incredibly powerful people, beings, and monsters. And yet, she'd hardly been able to _scratch_ that guy, and even that was quickly dealt with when he applied healing magics from his Materia.

In contrast, she wouldn't stay hurt either, but that was just because she would re-form so fast following wounds. And she hadn't at all needed to know that her arms would grow back, in case she lost them.

She sat up, fighting the urge to give in to the now almost-perceptible demands of the surrounding Darkness, to head back up and scout for a place to begin an Invasion. She had to think.

That guy was just... on another level. She wasn't sure _what_ he was used to fighting, but she got the feeling that it was in the league of things that could have toyed with Saffron for a while before crushing him like a bug. He was a big problem. With luck, he wouldn't get it the way. If not, she had to figure out his.. his drive, motivations. Focus him on something that he wanted _more_ than to interfere with what she might be doing...

She'd never thought about things like this. That was more Ayanami's thing. Yet she was falling into it remarkably easily. At the same time, the thought of just having let that guy win... it didn't sting, like she was sure it should have. The urge to get to things, to track him down and fight again, win, and prove superiority just wasn't... well, it was there. But it was nothing like what it should have been.

Was that just some personal growth, she wondered, or was it from becoming a Heartless? The minions had at least finished some kind of throne, and she sat in it. The framework of the black palace was all there, only waiting for the last facing to be put on before it was complete. She resumed her thought.

... Perhaps something had gone wrong. This whole thing, it was only ever before a matter for one person in one body. Or at least, if any others had occured, they had not had the force of will to continue on as more than one of many, afterward. Maybe... no, definitely. It hadn't divided them quite right. There were still bits of Rei, inside of her, where there should be none. And in Rei, they had been replaced with bits of herself.

That wouldn't hold! Even if they had been divided into two humans, and not into a Heartless and Nobody, monsters both, it wouldn't have been something to overlook. It had to be fixed. The only way she could see that happening, though, was for them to somehow be rejoined.

She'd have to find a way to find Rei, first, before anything like that could happen, though.

... Or maybe not. Maybe, instead of trying to hunt her down, it would be better to take another route. Make a spectacle, and have her come to investigate it, arriving right where Ranma wanted her, without having to bother with an extended search.

That could work. She looked up, almost able to see the portals even through the thick roof put into place.

... Fine then. She spoke a command, and felt the palace shudder as it lifted up, hordes of Heartless flocking on board. This was a bad idea. And she knew it was a bad idea. But it was still the only idea she had.

The portal bulged outwards as the palace approached, and the highest spire poked through. Beatrix warped in, to kneel before the throne, followed by others. One which gave a sense of being heavily armored, carrying a heavy sword which seemed to glow as though it had just been pulled from the fire, and stank of blood. One which seemed female, and carried a similarly heavy sword, etched with runes. The last was tall, and eschewed the theme of blades for a spear, with three points.

Beatrix, Ranma already knew, holding her treasured blade. It's only a moments effort, before the castle clears the Between, however, to pluck the information from the minds of the others. Cecil, the Black Knight, though he seems to be missing a great deal, holds the Blood Blade. A name which implies exactly the function of the weapon, healing the weilder with every foe struck down. Agrias, once another guardian of a princess, again fallen in another line of duty. She carries a simpler weapon, a Runic Blade like unto many, which could simply be purchased for coin on her world. A great deal of coin, admittedly, but nothing like the priceless artifacts the others bore. Still magical in its own right, though, and it would not be impossible to replace, should things come to that. And Kimahri, who was never human at all, but some manner of beast-person, sworn and devoted to guarding...

Well, not a princess, but close. It's an odd predisposition, that so many guardians of royalty are almost, but not quite, strong willed enough to pull themselves free of the darkness on their own. Even so, Kimahri's spear is powerful indeed. He knows it as 'Gungnir'. It strikes a bell with her, but not loudly. No matter.

The castle settles in the sky, and Ranma steps forward, ignoring the twisting pit below, slowly sealing as teeming hordes pile through.

"REEEEEEEEEEIIII!" She howls into empty space, cold and uncaring blue stone far below.

There is no answer, of course, but it was the last thing to be done. Both plea and demand, request and instruction. She is here. She will remain here, and, sooner or later, Rei will arrive. No matter how many others she will have to turn away in the time being.

Ranma settles back into the hard, stony throne, to wait.

AN.

Not dead. Myself _or_ this, as it happens. Just doing other things.

Finally gave up on the vs. Cloud fight scene, since I kept re-writing it and it was shit every time. Instead, you get slightly expanded Beatrix backstory. Hooray. Shot through the whole chapter all at once once I finally threw that out, though I'll admit it's comparatively kinda short.


End file.
